Summer Survival
by MystiqueGoddess
Summary: Inu-Yasha and five other people are stuck on a ship with a crazy captain and a wicked whipper for their whole summer! Can they survive!
1. Chapter 1 Welcome Aboard the Ocean Gull!

**Summer Survival**

**Disclaimer: **The only character I own is the insanely boisterous captain. Also, this fanfic might seem similar to the series _Island_, in which four young people are supposed to live on a ship for their whole summer because they have problems and the trip is supposed to help them rehabilitate, except obviously with my own little twist. ;) (I recommend you read the series as well!)

**Welcome Aboard the Ocean Gull**

"WELCOME ABOARD THE _OCEAN GULL_!!" boomed a grand voice that Inu-Yasha still found loud, even though he wasn't even at the dock yet. For once, he and his brother shared mutual skeptical glances at the ship and its captain, who towered over a kid like the Eiffel Tower would tower over an ant. It seemed some unlucky passenger had arrived first and was receiving the full attention—thus, the full force—of his 'welcome'. Though in Inu-Yasha's opinion, he didn't seem to be anyone who would be forced to embark in such a summer program. The kid had black hair tied up in a ponytail and appeared quite athletic. _He should be practicing in a sports program, _though Inu-Yasha. _Not stuck on some reconciliation cruise. _

All of a sudden, the humongous captain sniffed the air, deftly pulled out a spyglass from one of his numerous pockets, put it to his eye, and stared straight at Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru. Inu-Yasha tensed, knowing what was coming.

"HULLO, FELLOW SAILORS!! I ASSUME YOU'LL BE BOARDING THE _OCEAN GULL!!_ COME ON OVER!!" If possible, this holler was even louder.

Inu-Yasha glanced back at his father in hopes that he might be having second thoughts on sending his sons to a prison out at sea with this man in charge. No such luck.

"I'm so happy for you boys!" their father cried joyfully, almost relieved to tears. "You have such an awesome captain! Why, when I was a wee tyke, I had to stay and study at school the whole summer with the notorious Whipper watching me." His voice dropped below a whisper. "He had such scary eyes and scraggly black hair. No one who saw his face can forget it. And he's rumored to have whipped every boy at school!"

_Yikes,_ Inu-Yasha thought. On second thought, maybe their father was right.

They finally reached the _Ocean Gull_. "Well, have fun, you two," their father sniffled, and before he left, he added, "And try not to kill each other."

_I would if _**someone **_wouldn't keep picking on me all the time, _Inu-Yasha thought gruffly, staring accusingly at Sesshomaru.

_I would if _**someone **_wasn't so annoying that I'd want to kill him, _Sesshomaru though indignantly, not even bothering to glare at Inu-Yasha.

_What's their problem? _Koga wondered. (He was the kid who should've been scoring goals in a sports match rather than standing there getting yelled at by the captain and watching two brothers' feud)

"WELCOME ABOARD THE _OCEAN GULL_, MATEY!!" the captain bellowed once more, interrupting their thoughts. The three turned to face the newcomer.

The girl was hardly four feet tall, and the blast seemed to blow her backwards. She quivered and started crying. Inu-Yasha, Sesshomaru, and Koga stood awkwardly as they watched the captain trying to soothe her by lifting her up above his head (recall Eiffel Tower) and singing a sailor version of a lullaby which, not surprisingly, failed to make things better if not make things worse.

"Ugh, I _hate _whiny little brats like _her_." This time, a girl with her hair done up in a bun and wearing highly fashionable clothing approached them. Two men-in-black followed with suitcases as large as they were. Koga gave an appreciative woot-_woooo_ whistle. The men eyed him suspiciously, assessing whether he was a danger to their mistress or not. The girl, Kagura, looked at him in disgust and decided she didn't like him.

"Can we, like, leave, like, right now?" she demanded impatiently. "Oh, and kick the pony-tail _loser _off board, please. I mean, like, it is _soooo _unfashionable for _boys _to wear _pony tails_."

The captain, despite her obviously rude tone, beamed at her and replied. "NO, AND NO, MISSEE!! WE STILL NEED TO WAIT FOR ONE MORE PERSON BEFORE DEPARTING, AND OUR LITTLE KOG HERE IS STAYING, THOUGH HE CAN TAKE DOWN HIS PONYTAIL!! RIGHT, KOG?" He slapped him on the back while har-har-ing heartily. Koga nearly staggered in dismay. _Tell me that's a typo,_ he prayed. _He is _**not **_going to call me Kog for the rest of summer vacation._

"Kog? Ugh! That is, like, such an ugly name! Uh, Mr. Captain of the…uh…" She glanced at the side of the boat. "The Seagull, unless that _loser _gets rid of his name as well, I _cannot _stand to be on the same boat as him for, like, the rest of my summer!"

All of a sudden, the mood plummeted to Absolute Zero.

The captain slowly set the little girl down. There was a dark look in his eyes. "Did you just call my beauty a…a…a seagull?" They all found his unnervingly low voice to be more potent than his loud one could ever be. Even the men-in-black were nervous and wondered when they could leave.

"Nobody…calls my beauty…a seagull…"

They braced themselves for an explosion.

"WELCOME ABOARD THE _**OCEAN**__ GULL_!!"

They stared around in confusion.

"Hakudoshi?" Kagura cried out in surprise (and despair). "Like, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I killed someone," he replied as if it were nothing.

The mood, just as quick as it went up, fell once again.

"ALRIGHTY! THAT'S THE LAST OF YOU GUYS! LET'S ALL BOARD THE _OCEAN GULL_!" Kagura's bodyguards were about to follow them inside when the captain stopped them. "SORRY, ONLY KIDDIES ALLOWED!"

"Ms. Kagura needs her suitcases," they stated as flatly as they could, the memory of how menacing the captain could be engraved into their memory.

"I'LL TAKE THOSE, THEN!!' The captain took one suitcase in each hand and carried them inside easily as if they were pillows. Everyone stared in amazement, and this gave them one more thing to be cautious about.

And so, the _Ocean Gull _began its journey and sailed off towards the sunset…

...

"AHHHHH!! THE WHIPPER IS ONBOARD!!" Inu-Yasha and Koga screamed.

"Uncle Naraku! Ugh, like, not you too!!" Kagura spat disgustedly. First Hakudoshi, then Naraku?! Like, of all the relatives who she could have been stuck with, why couldn't it be Kanna?

"I would say it was nice to see you, Uncle, but it isn't," Hakudoshi said with equal disgust.

Koga backed away slowly, wondering if he was the only one without family problems.

"Don't sound so disgusted. Since I'm in charge, you would do well not to displease me," Naraku warned irritably. "I might give you more chores to do…or a whipping."

The room became silent.

"DINNER…IS…DONE!!" the captain hollered merrily and, without hesitation, dragged all of them to the dinner table, plopping each person onto a seat, Naraku included.

"That, like, totally ruined my figure! I _protest _to being carried like a bag of luggage!" Kagura, well, protested.

"WELL THEN, YOU SHOULD GET TO THE DINNER TABLE YOURSELF, MISSEE!" the captain roared heartily, to which everyone had a sweat drop since they would've done just that if he hadn't let dragged them there himself. "NARAKU, GO AND GET OUR DINNER! IT'S IN THE POT ON THE STOVE!"

"I know where it is," Naraku muttered irritably as he went to get it, aware of everyone's eyes on him.

"Looks like Whipper's got a higher up," Inu-Yasha snickered. Unfortunately, Naraku heard this and turned around to give Inu-Yasha an evil eye. _"Don't think I'll be forgetting that anytime soon," _he hissed to him. Inu-Yasha suddenly wished he kept his mouth shut. Sesshomaru rolled his eyes but was glad that the Whipper had someone to focus on for the time being.

When Naraku ladled the soup into everyone's bowls (and made sure to remind Inu-Yasha by spilling some onto him), the captain cleared his throat and everyone braced themselves.

"ALRIGHTY! LISTEN UP, MATEYS! BEFORE WE BEGIN, LET'S ALL INTRODUCE OURSELVES! TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU LIKE, WHAT YOU DON'T LIKE, ETC! LET'S START WITH ME! I'M CAPTAIN! I LIKE BOATS! I LOVE THE _OCEAN GULL_! I DON'T LIKE IT WHEN PEOPLE CALL HER THE _SEAGULL_!" He glanced briefly at Kagura before resuming. "I ALSO DON'T LIKE VIOLENCE SO I WOULD LIKE IT IF EVERYONE HERE GOT ALONG AND BEHAVED, OKEY-DOKEY?" Everyone nodded vigorously. "GOOD!! NOW YOUR TURN, THE-ROCK—YOU, NARAKU!!" He laughed at his own joke. Naraku scowled. Kagura and Hakudoshi wondered why he didn't just strangle their captain right then and there.

"As you all must know by now, I am Naraku. I am also known as the Whipper. I like that. I like my whip as well. I brought it with me." Several people paled. "I am also called The-Rock—You. I don't like that. If I hear you call me that, you will suffer severe consequences. If you do anything else I don't like, you will suffer as well. I am only going to say this once, so listen well, for your own good.

"I don't like: crying, screaming, whining, resistance, mischief, indolence, and insolence, which include but are not limited to: temper tantrums, excuses, neglecting work, failure to get things done, up-turned noses, sticking out tongues, blowing raspberries, tripping other people, oversleeping, interruptions, calling names, prank calls, swearing, gossiping, lying, bragging, arriving late, and most of all, morons."

Kagura, finally fed up, slammed the table and yelled, "Then what the **–BEEP-** are you doing here?!"

Before Naraku could reply, the captain answered, "THE SAME AS THE REST OF YOU HERE! EXCEPT THAT HE'S OLDER, SO HE HAS TO TAKE CARE OF YOU INSTEAD! OK! NEXT!"

The little girl, now wishing she wasn't placed next to the Whipper, nervously began, "I-I'm Rin…"

"LOUDER!!"

Rin flinched. "I'm RIN!

"I like to READ! I like reading nonfiction because sometimes they have really cool facts that most people had no idea about, but I especially like fiction, and under fiction I like fantasy the best! I would like science fiction if it wasn't so weird and creepy at times and mystery if some of the mysteries weren't so scary or confusing! I don't like scary stories, either, because they're scary! I don't like historical fiction because most of the time it's boring and has pointless political problems and yucky romances! So I don't like romantic novels either! I would also like realistic fiction except sometimes it's either too sad or hardly realistic at all! I like to read poems that rhyme, but I can also read poems that don't rhyme; it's just that if they're not that good, then it's kind of boring, but even if rhyming poems aren't that good, I can still get through them because they—"

"ALRIGHTY! NEXT!"

"I am called Sesshomaru. I don't have much that I like. I hate my brother. I also hate talking too much." Rin felt he was addressing her.

"OKEY-DOKEY! NEXT!"

"My name is Hakudoshi, and as I believe I already mentioned, I'm here because I killed someone—"

"HOLD IT, HAKUDOSH!! _I _BELIEVE YOU'RE HERE TO HAVE FUN LIKE THE REST OF US! SO JUST FORGET THAT YOU KILLED ANYONE AND TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF!"

"Fine. But first, as I see the captain needs a reminder, my name is Hakudoshi, not Hakudosh. Second, I only like to see people suffering. Third, I despise happy endings."

Suddenly, everyone felt that by the end of the trip, Hakudoshi would have seven more murders added to his record.

"THAT'S FINE! NEXT!"

"Hey, I'm Koga," said Koga rather nervously, wondering why he was stuck next to Hakudoshi. "Erm…I like sports. In fact, I'm the best at soccer." Koga paled as Naraku glared at him, remembering that bragging was forbidden. He felt the sudden need to end his turn. "I…uh…I don't like vegetables. That's all." He then realized he forgot to tell the captain not to call him Kog.

"ME NEITHER! NEXT!"

"I'm Inu-Yasha, and I like ramen and pickled radishes. I hate curry. I hate my brother, too."

"I'M SORRY, BUT WE'RE HAVING CURRY TOMORROW! TOO BAD! NEXT!"

"My name is Kagura, and I like anything that's fashionable, like—"

"WHY DON'T YOU TELL US WHAT YOU DON'T LIKE!" the captain interrupted before it became another rant like Naraku and Rin's.

"I don't like whiny little brats like Rin. And, uh, Rin? I'm sorry to say, but for a nerd who, like, only reads books, you, like, talk too much, so, like, shut up. And I hate people who, like, make a scene, like Rin. And people who are, like, stiff as a board, like Naraku. And people who think it's, like, _soooo_ cool to have killed someone, like Hakudoshi. And people who think they're better than everyone else, like Koga. And people who always get other people's names wrong, like—"

"THAT'S ENOUGH, KAG! HA! KAG AND KOG! HOW AWESOME! NOW LET'S START DINNER EVERYONE!" He began slurping his soup loudly, and continued slurping loudly for the rest of the meal so that it was impossible to start a conversation.

When everyone was done (and somehow, the captain finished last), the captain got up and dragged everyone around the ship, pointing out the bathroom and their sleeping quarters.

"What?! We all have to share, like, one disgusting bathroom?" Kagura screeched.

"HO HO HO! WHY, YES! JUST LIKE A FAMILY!!"

"And why do I have to share a room with the brat?"

"CUZ THERE'S NO WHERE ELSE FOR HER TO SLEEP, DUH! AND BESIDES, BIG SISTERS ALWAYS SHARE THEIR ROOM WITH THEIR LITTLE SISTERS!"

"Since when was she my little sister?"

"SINCE NOW! ALRIGHTY! YOU BOYS SLEEP IN HERE! YOU CAN PICK YOUR BUNKS! IF YOU NEED ANYTHING, ME AND NARAKU'LL BE IN THE ROOM NEXT DOOR! G'NIGHT!"

In the boy's room, there were four bunks, two on each side of the room, just enough. Obviously, Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru chose beds farthest from each other, and Koga chose a bunk under Inu-Yasha so that he, too, would be far away from Hakudoshi.

Although there were four bunks as well in the girls' room, there were only two girls, so Kagura had the satisfaction of occupying a good three quarters of the room with her luggage. Rin, wishing tremendously that she was back home with her books, snuggled into her bed and tried to sleep, and she would have, too.

Except that the captain snored at an unimaginably deafening volume.

All six of them found themselves kept up by the racket.

_How in the world is Naraku sleeping through that?! _they all wondered.

Naraku had, in fact, anticipated this, so he not only brought ear plugs and ear muffs but beeswax, a scarf, a woolen cap, and headphones attached to his iPod playing Chopin's Waltz in C-sharp Minor. And to top it off, he covered it all with an extra large goldfish bowl.

And so, when the captain woke them all up at the break of dawn, none of them save Naraku had got a wink of sleep.

**Author's Note: **I'm trying out the method of working on a fanfic while publishing the chapters every few days or so in hopes that I'll finish it this summer! Wait for the next installment!

(One more thing, I'll add on an excerpt from where it left off in the previous chapter to remind what was going on last so you don't have to look back again )


	2. Chapter 2 Title Is Too Long

**Summer Survival**

"_And so, when the captain woke them all up at the break of dawn, none of them save Naraku had gotten a wink of sleep…"_

**Why the **_**Ocean Gull **_**Is Called the **_**Ocean Gull**_

"YOU ALL ARE PROBABLY WONDERING WHY THE _OCEAN GULL _IS CALLED THE _OCEAN GULL_! WELL, I'LL TELL YOU WHY!"

Only Rin perked up a little when she heard the captain. She had, as doubtlessly the others had, wondered why the ship was dubbed the _Ocean Gull _rather than the _Seagull_, but was too scared to ask the captain. However, everyone else was too tired/sleeping on their feet/yawning every five seconds and probably didn't even hear the question, much less care. Besides the captain, only Naraku was fully awake, and he stared at them with a smug expression. Feeling he had built up enough suspense, the captain continued, "BUT I'LL ONLY TELL YOU AFTER WE GET ALL THE CHORES DONE!!"

They didn't even have the strength to groan. Koga toppled over, still snoring. Somehow, the captain failed to see that and began assigning everyone their chores.

"KOG, YOU'RE WASHING THE DISHES FROM LAST NIGHT'S DINNER!!"

_Snoooore._

"INU-YASHA! YOU AND HAKUDOSH SWAB THE DECKS!! OH YEAH, MOPS AN' STUFF ARE OVER THERE!!" The captain pointed towards the room to his left. Inu-Yasha began stumbling towards the opposite direction. It was only with Hakudoshi's half-hearted prodding that he got anywhere near the door at all.

"SESHMARU! RIN! YOU HELP NARAKU COOK OUR BREAKFAST!!"

"…SesSHOmaru…" Sesshomaru corrected irritably.

"WELL, SESHMARU IS EASIER TO SAY! ONE LESS SYLLABLE, HAR-HAR-HAR!!"

Sesshomaru's eyebrow twitched, and Rin felt desolate at the thought of being stuck with the Whipper and Sesshomaru in a bad mood.

"AND KAG!"

"WILL YOU QUIT CALLING ME THAT AND LET ME SLEEP!" Kagura screeched viciously.

"NO, AND NO! YOU CAN HELP ME FISH!!"

Naraku raised an eyebrow. "But, Captain, the ship would be moving—"

"NONSENSE! WE CAN MAKE IT STOP LONG ENOUGH FOR ME TO FISH!!"

Naraku held a skeptical look that suggested that it might take quite a while for the captain to fish.

_Yaaawn. _"Uh…Captain…?" Inu-Yasha stifled another yawn. "Is it really …_yawn_… necessary to wake us up so early …_yawn… _to do all that stuff? Like _…yawn… _couldn't we all do that in the morning?"

"WHY, IT _IS _MORNING, MY BOY! MORNING STARTS ONCE THE SUN GETS UP!!"

Everyone looked around drearily. Sure enough, they could spot the tip of sun just inches above the ocean. Nonetheless, it was still dark enough so that none of them (except maybe the captain) could see more than three feet in front of them.

"LET'S GO, KAG! YOU WAIT BY THE STERN WHILE I GET THE FISHING STUFF!!"

_I doubt even the fishes are up this early, _Kagura thought crossly.

Naraku sighed. "I guess we better go as well. Come on, you two." Sesshomaru and Rin grudgingly followed him, wondering if they would actually be of any help at all.

Hakudoshi looked into the cabinet as Inu-Yasha held the door open for him. There was only one mop and a bucket.

"You know how to mop, right?" he inquired boredly.

"I s'pose so," Inu-Yasha muttered wearily, never having mopped once in his life.

"Good." Hakudoshi took the mop and bucket and handed them to Inu-Yasha. "Then you can do all of it." He then headed back for his bunk and went promptly to sleep. Inu-Yasha, too tired to go after him, began what he hoped was mopping when he realized he didn't have any water to mop with. _I wonder where I can get some, _he thought vaguely.

It wasn't long before he was lying sound asleep next to Koga.

_Kagura was in her bathing suit, basking in the golden rays of a tropical sun. The gentle breezes were warm and the crashing waves were calming. An ideal beach day…_

"…AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT NOT CATCHING ANYTHING! THAT HAPPENS TO ME A LOT, TOO!!"

Kagura's eyes snapped open. Oh, drat…it was only a dream.

"HERE YOU GO!" The captain handed her a fishing pole. "AND DON'T FORGET THOSE TIPS I TOLD YOU!!"

"What tips?"

The captain's face darkened. "You don't remember the tips I just gave you…?"

"Oh! Right! _Those _tips!" Kagura laughed nervously, realizing she must have slept through them.

The captain beamed. "I _KNEW _YOU WOULDN'T FORGET MY TIPS, KAG!" He then turned his attention towards attaching bait to his hook and flinging the line impossibly far into the water. Kagura looked at the bait and shuddered at the thought of even touching them. She then decided she would rather risk the captain's wrath rather than deal with the bait. "Hey, like, I am _so _not touching something this disgusting—Hello?"

The captain appeared not to have heard her and stared only straight ahead. He didn't even blink when Kagura waved her hand right in front of his face. _Interesting…_she thought. _Well, I'm going back to my tropical paradise. _Soon, she was asleep once more.

"So, what are we making, Naraku?" Rin asked, curiosity getting the better of her.

"I would like some French toast, but we don't have any eggs," Naraku replied regretfully.

_No one asked what you would like, _Rin and Sesshomaru thought tiredly.

"Here we are. Where is that bloke, Koga?" Naraku demanded, noticing the dirty dishes.

_Probably still asleep, _Rin thought enviously—until she saw Naraku's expression.

"I can't cook without a pot or a pan," he continued, his voice harsh with fury. "Does he want us all to starve? You two go wash those right now! If I they're still there when I return, you'll both pay dearly." He then turned and strode away with purpose. Rin and Sesshomaru immediately got started, not wanting to face the same fate that would befall Koga. Nonetheless, as Sesshomaru was washing his own bowl, he couldn't help think how unfair it was that he had to do someone else's chore along with his own.

When Naraku stormed back to where they were last, his mood darkened further as he found Inu-Yasha asleep next to Koga. _These lazy brats! Have they heard nothing I said at the dinner table? _His lip then curled up with malevolence. _Well, I better beat it into their brains then._

_Kagura was sipping a refreshing tropical punch when—_

Whip! Whip!

"AAAAAAAAAAGHH!!"

"OOOOOOWWWW!! OWOWOWOWOWOW—"

Her eyes popped open at the wailing. She looked around frantically to see what the matter was when she spotted Naraku whipping Inu-Yasha and Koga. She turned pale. If Naraku had come to check on her before them… She shuddered to think of what would have happened.

"And don't you dare fall asleep again!" she heard him yell before storming off…towards her direction. Her heart hammering at the speed of sound, she made a split second decision. She could risk the captain's anger, but Naraku's was out of the question. Quickly, she shoved her hands into the bait bucket without—okay, maybe slight—hesitation and attached the bait she got onto the hook without pricking herself and slung the whole thing overboard, where it probably landed somewhere right next to the boat.

"Oh, hi Uncle Naraku!" she said with false cheerfulness, hoping her voice didn't sound too shaky.

He stared at her suspiciously. "Have you been slacking off?"

"Er…no!" Kagura lied, crossing her fingers.

Naraku narrowed his eyes, but just then, the captain gave a big yell that appeared to be his war cry as he reeled in a fish that could easily rival his height.

"HOO-HAH!! WHAT A HAUL! THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST FISH I'VE REELED IN A LONG WHILE! WHAT ABOUT YOU, KAG? GOT ANYTHING YET?"

"N-No…not yet!" She pretended to be disgusted and gave Naraku a defiant glance. "Even though I've been sitting here for, like, forever!"

"HA HA! THAT'S QUITE ALRIGHT! REMEMBER, FISHING TAKES PATIENCE—AND PRACTICE! YOU'LL GET THE HANG OF IT IN NO TIME, KAG!!" He was about to hook more bait when he noticed Naraku. "HOW NOW, THE ROCK—YOU!! WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE? IS BREAKFAST DONE YET?"

"Well, no, considering that Koga failed to wash the dishes, so I was unable to cook and had to ask (cough cough threaten cough) Sesshomaru and Rin to do it instead. Then I found Koga _and_ Inu-Yasha napping and gave them the punishment they deserved. I believe tomorrow, they should do more chores—"

"AW, LET THOSE BOYS OFF THE HOOK! THIS _IS _THEIR FIRST DAY, AFTER ALL!"

"But—"

"DON'T YOU NEED TO GET COOKING? I BELIEVE YOUR HELPERS OUGHT TO HAVE FINISHED BY NOW! HERE, TAKE THIS FISH!!" He tossed the flopping fish at Naraku, who barely managed to remain upright under its weight.

"I'll call you when we're done," he said, shooting a warning glance at Kagura that said, I know you were sleeping, even if I didn't catch you at it.

"Right! Of course! Like, anything you say!" Kagura agreed, but in her head, she was thinking, _Oh, just leave already!!_

Naraku turned around to leave, but just as she thought he was going, he hissed, "Don't think you've gotten away this time. Next time you won't be so lucky."

Kagura focused intently on her fishing rod, not daring to relax until she was sure he was gone, which wasn't hard to tell since he had to lug the fish back down to the kitchen, and his descent was marked with sounds of slapping as the fish was still alive.

Kagura stared mournfully at the heavens. _Good bye, tropical heaven. _

Rin and Sesshomaru heard Koga and Inu-Yasha's cries of anguish and hurried up with the washing, and they would've finished before Naraku arrived if there wasn't only the one pot left. It was, to say the very least, utterly filthy. Rin and Sesshomaru spent a good five minutes staring at each other, hoping the other would wash it.

"Pretty please?" Rin finally asked sweetly, with sugar on top and all.

"Well, someone had better finish it or we'll both face the Whipper's wrath," Sesshomaru commented calmly as he washed his hands and walked away, probably to go back to sleep. Rin gave a great groan and was about start on the daunting task when Sesshomaru walked right back with a grim expression on his face. Rin didn't need to ask what the matter was.

"What do we do? The pot's not washed!" Rin whispered anxiously.

"Hide it!" Sesshomaru hissed, glancing behind him.

"But he'll notice if the _pot_ is gone!" Rin almost wailed.

"Fine. I'll wash it, you stall him."

All of a sudden, washing the pot didn't seem so unappealing anymore.

"But—"

"Hurry!" Sesshomaru said impatiently, shoving her away and getting started on tackling the task of getting the pot shiny and spotless in—he wished—no time at all.

"Gee, I got it. No need to push me," Rin grumbled as she trudged away sullenly.

She was desperately wracking her brain for a story with which to stall her and Sesshomaru's doom when the sounds of loud slapping interrupted her thoughts. Startled, she looked up to see Naraku struggling to carry the fish down the stairs without getting smacked. An idea formed in her mind.

"That's a very big fish. Where did you get it?" she asked, slowly advancing towards him and trying not to get smacked as well.

"The captain. Are you done washing yet? Because I have an idea of what we're having for breakfast," Naraku remarked sarcastically right before he avoided the fish tail that came his way.

"Do you want me to help? Here, I got its tail." Rin grabbed the fish's tail and only barely managed to hold on _and _stay on the ground. _Sesshomaru would have had a better time with this, _Rin thought regretfully. _Why, oh why, did I get stuck with this?_

Naraku looked at her skeptically, not entirely believing that anyone would want to help him without a specific reason to, but he said nothing, considering that at least the fish stopped trying to hit him.

However, when he tried to move on, he found himself jerked back, the fish almost slipping from his arms. He turned back and glared at Rin with annoyance.

"Sorry!" Rin cried apologetically, although inside, she was grinning. "I thought the fish would slip, so I kinda stopped…"

"Very well. Just be…more careful," was all Naraku could think of saying.

After this episode occurred six more times, Naraku gave up and said, "Look, I think I can do it by myself."

"Okay," Rin complied readily, already worn out and almost feeling bad about making Naraku constantly wait for her. _Surely Sesshomaru would've finished it by now, _she thought. _Even if he didn't, I'm not going to put up with this much longer._

She was dismayed to see Sesshomaru asleep with the sponge still in hand and water still running. Naraku cursed and dropped the fish, dashing towards the sink to turn the water off, leaving Rin to fend the fish off herself. When she finally managed to approach him, she began to ask him, "What do I do with this—" when she noticed him washing the pot himself. She dropped the fish in astonishment and felt her jaw drop.

"Well, we _do _have to eat," Naraku grumbled crossly. "And the captain told me to let you guys off the hook just for today. Don't think I'm doing this because I want to."

It was then that Rin noticed just how tired he was and truly felt bad about earlier.

Sesshomaru jolted awake and turned pale when he saw Naraku.

"Relax. I'm not going to do anything to you—yet." This failed to console him. "Oh, for goodness sake, why don't you guys go to bed and leave the cooking to me! You probably won't be any help anyways and get in my way instead." He stared accusingly at Rin. Once Sesshomaru saw that it was really okay to leave, he said, "Fine by me," and left. Rin, however, hesitated and said, "Um…if you actually need help, you can come wake me up."

Naraku said nothing.

Stifling a big yawn, she, too, left gratefully for her bunk.

Meanwhile, Kagura, who was the only one of the six awake at this point, managed to catch…nothing.

...

"ALL RIGHT! NOW THAT WE'RE ALL DONE WITH CHORES, I'LL TELL YOU ALL WHY THE _OCEAN GULL _IS CALLED THE _OCEAN GULL_!!"

In truth, they were _not _done with all the chores, but since Naraku had called them all down for breakfast (by yanking Inu-Yasha and Koga and the rest to the table by their ears) he had forgotten all about fishing and the cleaning duties.

"BUT FIRST, LET'S FINISH OUR LUNCH!" Everyone anime-collapsed. "MMMM!! THIS FISH IS SO GOOD! I COMMEND YOUR CULINARY SKILLS, THE ROCK—YOU!!"

Naraku scowled and grumbled under his breath but did nothing to the captain, which again raised the eyebrows of those who wondered why he simply did not haul the captain overboard (which he would've done unhesitantly to anyone else if they called him that).

By now, most of them were well-rested and had to agree that the fish was, indeed, very good.

"Wow! This fish _is _good! Could you teach me to cook next time?" Rin asked enthusiastically, her eyes bright.

Everyone stared at her.

And stared.

And stared.

"Naraku?" Inu-Yasha, Koga, and Sesshomaru said in disbelief.

"_Naraku?!_"Kagura and Hakudoshi cried, almost choking on their fish.

"_Me?_" Naraku sputtered as if it were the most outrageous thing he ever heard (and it probably was).

"WHY DON'T YOU TEACH HER, NARAKU!!" the captain bellowed heartily, slapping him on the back. "I'M SURE YOU'LL BE A _GREEAAT _TEACHER!!"

_I'm sure he will _not, everyone thought with dread, imagining the whipping Rin would get if she just managed to undercook or burn the fish slightly.

"Um…Naraku doesn't have to!" Rin objected, flustered.

"AWW, DON'T BE LIKE THAT! HOW 'BOUT THIS! NARAKU'LL TEACH YOU TO MAKE LUNCH TODAY!! OK? GOOD!!" he decided before Rin or Naraku could open their mouths to protest.

"So, Captain, do tell us why your ship is called what it is," Hakudoshi said calmly, deciding a change of topic was needed. And, in fact, everyone was done with their breakfast (since it was so good) so the captain cleared his throat—eight times—before beginning his story.

"ONCE UPON A TIME, WHEN I WAS A WEE LAD, I ALWAYS WONDERED WHY THE GULLS NEAR THE OCEAN WERE REFERRED TO AS SEAGULLS AND NOT OCEAN GULLS IF THEY WERE NEAR THE OCEAN SO I DECIDED THAT IF I EVER GOT A BOAT O' MY OWN I'D NAME 'ER THE _OCEAN GULL_! SO THAT'S WHY THE _OCEAN GULL _IS CALLED THE _OCEAN GULL_! THE END!"

He waited for applause. When no one clapped, he cleared his throat once more and gave each of them a warning glare. Everyone began clapping immediately, albeit half-heartedly.

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU! NOW THAT WE'RE DONE, I WANT TO SHOW YOU ALL A MOVIE ON SURVIVING OUT AT SEA!! EVERYBODY, TO MY ROOM!" Everyone grudgingly followed him, having a bad feeling about it.

There in the room, everyone spotted Naraku's guaranteed-sleep equipment lying on his bunk and thought, _Oh, so _that's _how he was able to sleep last night._ Then, they looked at the captain's TV screen and did a double take. It was a huge, _huge _plasma screen TV that was as wide as the length of them all standing side-by-side to each other.

"NOW, I'LL HAVE TO PAUSE AT CERTAIN INTERVALS BECAUSE THIS MOVIE IS OLD AND A LITTLE INACCURATE!" the captain announced before pressing play.

"Why don't you have a more updated one to show us?" Koga demanded, being the type of person who hated old black-and-white films.

"Yeah," Kagura agreed snootily. "Like, I refuse to watch something considered out _ages_ ago!"

"BECAUSE WHEN SOMEONE FELL INTO THE SEA AND GOT EATEN BY A SHARK, THEY HAD TO CANCEL THE PROGRAM! NOW BE QUIET ALL OF YOU!! IT'S STARTING!!"

A picture of a typical sunset-at-the-beach appeared with the words _Aloha _at the top. As the words disappeared, a gangly man wearing sunglasses and a suit walked out to the center of the screen.

"Won't he get hot in that?" Inu-Yasha inquired, wondering just how accurate the film was going to be.

"Aloha, everyone!" the man said, flashing a perfect-white-teeth smile. "That's Hawaiian for 'hello', even though I'm not in Hawaii right now!"

Everyone stared, dumbstruck at his idiocy. The fact that his face took up the entire width of the screen probably contributed to their speechlessness.

"But I will be, at the end of this film! We'll begin as soon as I get onto my ship!" A very unconvincing model of a ship floated out to where the man was, and he had to adjust it to make it look like the ship was actually in the water.

"PRETEND THAT REALLY IS HIS SHIP, OKIE-DOKEY?" the captain boomed as the scene faded out ungracefully to show the man 'inside' the ship.

"Now, I'm going to be teaching you how to survive out at the ocean! But first, let me introduce my shipmates, Chip and Chipper! Say hello, Chip!"

"Hi!" said Chip.

"Say hello, Chipper!"

"HIIIIIIIII-HI-HI-HI-HI-HI-HIIIIIIIIII!!" said Chipper.

"A kid's show…" Sesshomaru whispered dismally. "This is a **–BEEP– **kid's show…"

"But I'm not a kid!!" Rin and Hakudoshi screamed desperately.

"SHUT UP! IT'S EDUCATIONAL!!" the captain hollered back before turning his attention back to the film, obviously enjoying it.

_It is in no way, shape, or form educational, _everyone thought. Only Inu-Yasha dared to ask the dreaded question.

"How long's this going to last?"

The captain beamed. "WE'RE IN FOR A FULL THREE HOURS OF TIPS!! I GOT THIS FOR FREE, TOO!! ISN'T A GREAT DEAL?"

_If I ever find who gave this to the captain, I'll kill him on the spot, _Sesshomaru thought.

_If I ever find who made this film in the first place, I'll kill him on the spot, _Hakudoshi thought.

_If I ever find the guy in the sunglasses, I'll kick him in _the spot, Koga thought.

Naraku was blissfully oblivious to it all, wearing his snore-proof equipment and watching something infinitely more educational on his iPod.

But they didn't realize just how bad it was until the sunglasses guy actually started giving tips.

"The most important thing to know when aboard a ship is not how to steer it or all that junk but how to swim! If the ship ever sinks, know how to stay afloat! You either lay on your stomach cuz it's easier to float that way, or you could tread, but that's too tiring, so I recommend the belly float—"

Here, the captain paused it, much to the relief of everyone. "ACTUALLY, IT'S BETTER TO GRAB ONTO SOMETHING THAT'S ALREADY FLOATING, LIKE WOOD, THAN TO TRY TO FLOAT BY YOURSELF! BUT IF YOU HAVE TO, THEN FLOAT ON YOUR BACK INSTEAD! WE DISCARDED THE IDEA OF FLOATING ON YOUR STOMACH AFTER SOMEONE DROWNED! ALL RIGHT, MOVING ON!!"

After the first twenty minutes of it, people began to nod off, and the captain, unaware that only Rin and Inu-Yasha were still awake, continued ranting on about what the film was mistaken about and why it was different now. _Although I'd say we were better off not knowing what the film is trying to teach at all, _Inu-Yasha thought, as it dawned on him that the captain was practically correcting every tip the movie gave. One such instance was when the guy in sunglasses advised them not eat their provisions and save them for when they couldn't catch anything to eat that particular day, but the captain corrected that they should eat a little of both and finish the provisions first, as they would go bad and many died from food poisoning; another was when he advised them to unfurl the sails in a storm in so that they would reach their destination faster, but Inu-Yasha and Rin had watched enough movies to know that was suicide without the captain yelling it at them.

Finally, in the last glorious five minutes of the film (Inu-Yasha was silently counting down in his head), Sesshomaru, Kagura, and Hakudoshi stirred to witness the worst part of the movie: when the sunglasses guy, Chip, and Chipper finally reach Hawaii—which was basically the same sunset scene that was used in the beginning of the movie. Only this time, they sang at full blast about surviving the sea and reaching Hawaii.

_Ho ho ho! We've survived the sea!_

_And now we've finally reached Hawaii!_

This they sang repetitively for the whole five minutes, with dancing and drinking and all until they finally collapsed, drunk, and the movie screen blacked out.

The captain applauded with the force of thunder, waking Koga up.

He yawned and stretched. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing. Only the worst, most horrible, despicable, and sickening movie created in the universe," was the others' reply.

Koga had a sweat drop. That bad, huh?

Unfazed, the captain got up and announced, "ALRIGHTY! RIN, GO AND MAKE LUNCH WITH NARAKU! EVERYONE ELSE, CLEAN UP DUTY WITH ME!!"

They all got up a little dazed and followed without complaints, scarred for life.

**-To be continued…-**


	3. Chapter 3 Why They Messed Up a Whole Lot

**Summer Survival**

"_Unfazed, the captain got up and announced, "ALRIGHTY! RIN, GO AND MAKE LUNCH WITH NARAKU! EVERYONE ELSE, CLEAN UP DUTY WITH ME!!"_

_They all got up a little dazed and followed without complaints, scarred for life."_

**How They Messed Up Mopping the Deck…Again **and** How the Microwave Blew Up and Lunch Was Almost Ruined...Almost  
**

"WOW, HOW'D THE DECK GET SO DIRTY SO QUICK? GOOD THING WE'RE CLEANING IT UP AGAIN!" Inu-Yasha looked down guiltily while Hakudoshi looked away casually. "AHA! HERE'S THE BUCKET! AND THERE'S THE MOP! HAKUDOSH, GO GET MORE!!"

"My name is Hakudoshi, not Hakudosh," Hakudoshi said smoothly, not expecting the captain to remember anyways, "and there _are _no more, unless you know somewhere else we could get more."

"WOW, I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU SWABBED THE WHOLE DECK WITH JUST ONE MOP! I'M MIGHTY IMPRESSED!!"

"Actually, sir, I don't believe they swabbed the deck at all," Sesshomaru stated, ignoring Inu-Yasha's glare.

Everyone felt the mood tense up again.

"You didn't…swab the decks…?" the captain whispered dangerously. Before Hakudoshi could lie, he warned, "Answer truthfully!"

Hakudoshi was about to lie anyways when Inu-Yasha said, "No, we didn't."

"But you told Naraku to take it easy on us!" Koga added, just in case Inu-Yasha's honesty wasn't enough to appease the captain.

"BUT THAT WAS BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE DONE! ARR, AND WHERE WERE YOU, HAKUDOSH?" the captain complained. Everyone sighed with relief.

"In my bunk," he answered, not seeing any point in lying this time.

"WELL, OKAY THEN! SINCE WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MOPS TO GO AROUND, WE'LL JUST HAVE TO LOOK FOR MORE! HAKUDOSH, INU-YASHA, AND KOG, GO SWEEP UP AS MUCH OF THE DECK AS YOU CAN! THE REST OF YOU, FOLLOW ME!!" He then left the three to decide how to distribute the work.

"Well, as I've said before, I don't know how to do this, so—"

"Oh no, you're not getting off that easily," Inu-Yasha and Koga growled, both grabbing his collar before he could leave again.

"Fine. So what do you propose we do?" Hakudoshi asked coolly.

"We…" the two thought for a bit. Hakudoshi expected as much.

"Oh yeah! I was going to look for water to fill the bucket with!" Inu-Yasha recalled. "I'll try to get some from the kitchen and then we can take turns mopping—"

"Or better yet, I bet we can use some of the towels from the kitchen to help!" Koga cried. They high-fived.

Hakudoshi sighed and rolled his eyes as Inu-Yasha and Koga left for the kitchen. _Sure, and leave me here to face the captain's wrath myself if he comes back to check. _He was about to wander back to his bunk when Inu-Yasha and Koga suddenly reappeared and said, "Don't you dare leave!" before going back down.

Once he was sure they were gone, Hakudoshi left to explore above the ship. _If I'm still _on _the deck, I suppose I can't have really left, _he mused smugly.

He wandered towards where he supposed the captain steered the ship and sudden thought occurred to him. If the captain wasn't steering, then who was? He peered inside the window. No one was there, except for a wheel that was spinning out of control. He stared in shock. Were they…were they left to drift aimlessly on the sea?!

Someone grabbed him. "There you are," Inu-Yasha said accusingly.

"I thought we told you not to leave," Koga growled.

"What makes you think I'd listen to you?" Hakudoshi said cockily.

"THERE YOU ARE!!" the captain roared boisterously, making all three of them jump. He then noticed the dishrags Inu-Yasha and Koga were holding. "SMART LADS!! NOW WE CAN ALL MOP UP THE DECK ALL NICE AND SHINY!! ARRR, LET'S GET STARTED!!"

However, even though they were able to find more mops, the same cannot be said for buckets. Thus, Inu-Yasha had the good fortune to approach their only bucket when Sesshomaru was about to.

"It's mine!" Inu-Yasha yelled, sprinting towards it even though it was only a foot in front of him.

"Beat it," Sesshomaru said calmly as he knocked Inu-Yasha away with his mop. Inu-Yasha slid in front of Koga, tripping him and sending him flying towards Sesshomaru, who was about to dip his mop into the bucket and only just dodged Koga. Nonetheless, Koga's head sent the bucket flying into the air, and their eyes followed it in slow-mo as it landed on Kagura's head, dumping filthy water all over her.

"Ah…ah…AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" Kagura emitted an ear-splitting shriek. Sesshomaru, Koga, and Inu-Yasha paled. At that moment, Hakudoshi needed more water for his mop, but now that the bucket was on his cousin's head…He began inching away from where she stood. Good luck to the other three to endure her wrath.

"M-MY HAIR! MY _HAIR!! _UGH!_ YOU ALL RUINED MY HAIR!!_" She began to advance towards the three boys, and she was _not _happy. Inu-Yasha was about to scramble away, but this only made her focus her attention on him. "AND MY CLOTHES! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH MY BLOUSE COSTS?!" She slammed her mop down where Inu-Yasha was half a second ago and actually broke the floor. "PROBABLY MORE THAN YOUR WHOLE WARDROBE!!" _SLAM! _Sesshomaru thought for the four hundred fifty-third time what an idiot his brother was but was glad he was the scapegoat for now and quietly backed away. Koga, on the other hand, was not so wise, so while he was sneaking off, he said, "Ha ha! So long, sucker!"

Of course, this was directed towards Inu-Yasha, but Kagura heard it, too, and turned her attention towards him instead. "And YOU! YOU PONY-TAILED FREAK! LOSER! THIS IS ALL BECAUSE _YOU _WERE ONBOARD!!"

This time, Koga was indignant. "Whaddya mean? It was _Inu-Yasha _who tripped me!"

"What! Sure, point at me!" Inu-Yasha yelled back, both scared and angry as Kagura turned towards him again. "It was _Sesshomaru _who knocked me over and your own frigginfault that you tripped over me! I mean, don't you do sports?"

"Heck yeah!" Koga was shouting now. "But just because you're good at something doesn't mean you don't make mistakes! Why do you think I'd be here on this stupid excuse of a summer program otherwise!"

Inu-Yasha was a taken back. "What exactly _happened_?" he asked.

"DON'T IGNORE ME!!" Kagura burst in.

"ALL DONE YET?" the captain asked, stopping her in her tracks. "KAG! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH THE BUCKET ON YOUR HEAD? IS THE DAY TOO HOT FOR YOU?"

She sputtered, "Yes! No! They—"

"DOESN'T MATTER! GO FILL IT UP WITH WATER AGAIN!"

"But—"

"IT'S NICE AND SHADY DOWN THERE ANYWAYS! WHY DON'T YOU CHANGE WHILE YOU'RE AT IT! BUT BRING THE BUCKET BACK FIRST!"

Kagura decided it was a very good idea and knew it was pointless to argue with the captain. But she didn't restrain from hitting Koga with the bucket on her way down.

"WAHAHAHAHA! KIDS! WHERE'S HAKUDOSH AND SESHMARU?"

Inu-Yasha found a chance to get back at his brother. "He's—"

"Right here." Inu-Yasha disappointedly turned to see Sesshomaru walk back towards them, followed by Hakudoshi.

"ALRIGHTY! LET'S KEEP MOPPING! AND NO MORE FIGHTING!"

Everyone did a double take, but the captain was soon off. Was their captain actually more observant than he let on?

_Well, they weren't exactly quiet about it, _Hakudoshi thought sarcastically.

However, he seemed to have forgotten that they all needed the bucket of water at the moment, so they sat around doing nothing while waiting for Kagura to get it back up.

"So what brings you here?" Inu-Yasha asked wryly, feeling this should have been discussed during the introductions.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore," Koga grumbled. "What about you? And what's the deal between you and your brother?"

"I'm here _because _of the deal between me and my brother," Inu-Yasha grumbled back.

"Actually, it's entirely _his _fault we're here," Sesshomaru corrected. "As you can tell, he's an idiot."

"Now that I think about it, we're probably here because he keeps calling me an idiot," Inu-Yasha snarled back.

"Only because you _are _an idiot."

"But do you have to keep saying it in front of my face!"

"I'm not going to waste any more words with you." Sesshomaru began walking away.

"Hey! Get back here!" Inu-Yasha yelled. Of course, his big brother ignored him.

"Yeesh, gotta feel sorry for you, man," Koga sympathized. "I can't imagine living with a brother like _yours._"

"Hey guys! Lunch is ready!" Rin announced chipperly, emerging from below deck.

"Great! What're we having?" Koga asked just as chipperly in order to dispel the damp mood.

"More fish," Rin answered a tad apologetically. "The fish the captain caught was kinda big, so we didn't finish it at breakfast. But we have bread!" she added, chipper again.

"WHAT ARE WE ALL WAITING FOR?!" the captain boomed behind them. "OFF TO LUNCH, THE LOT OF YOU!!"

...

At first, Rin was a little (very) scared and slightly (extremely) nervous about Naraku teaching her to cook. Though not spoiled, she had never been whipped before, and whenever she read about it/watched it on TV, it looked, sounded, and was described as being painful. Apparently, it could actually penetrate the skin and cause you to bleed along with the stinging feeling when it struck, and only after perhaps twenty lashes will the pain begin to numb—

"Rin!" Naraku interrupted her thoughts furiously. "If you want to learn, don't daydream!"

"Yes sir! Sorry sir!" Rin yelped, terrified, hoping he wouldn't whip her.

Naraku thought for a moment—about her punishment, she feared—before saying, "Do you know how to use the microwave?"

"Yes?" she said tentatively.

"Alright. Wash all the dishes, and when you're done, microwave a loaf of bread for one minute."

"Where?"

He sighed impatiently, as if she were stupid. "In the fridge."

_Interesting place to put it, _Rin thought but replied, "Right away, sir!" and hurried to start on the dishes right away. In the back of her head, she thought, _Isn't he going to teach me to cook? _but decided not to risk pushing it too far.

Naraku then went to the fridge himself and took out some of the fish leftover from breakfast (but not yet cooked) before staring fixedly at her. Rin then realized he was waiting for her to wash the pan. So she finished washing the plate she had already started on (which took half a minute) before starting on the pan, which she was still working on after a minute when Naraku lost his patience and shoved her aside to wash it himself, and it took him ten seconds. _Well, I already scrubbed off most of the grease before he got to it, _she pouted. As he took it to fry the fish, she, too, lost patience and cried, "Aren't you going to teach me to cook?"

"After you've done what I told you to do," he said coldly as he turned on the stove.

Rin scrubbed harder than before as she fought back tears and didn't bother to make sure the plates were clean before putting them on the rack to dry.

Koga and Inu-Yasha came down to get some towels and water for their bucket and were not surprised to see her doing the chores, but they _were _surprised that she wasn't beaten in any way.

"Hey Rin, is the Whipper, like, getting soft?" Koga whispered.

Unfortunately for him, Naraku overheard and proceeded to approach him with a knife in hand. Taking the hint, Koga and Inu-Yasha dashed back up the deck.

"Don't you dare think I'm getting soft," Naraku warned Rin venomously. "You give me anything but your respect and effort and I'll make sure you'll regret it. Keep washing! I didn't tell you to stop!" He strode back to the stove and fumed as he fried.

Rin was on the brink of yelling at the top of her lungs and throwing all the plates, preferably at Naraku. Why, oh _why _did Koga and Inu-Yasha—well, now that she thought about it, Inu-Yasha really didn't do anything—Koga have to come and make Naraku even meaner to her than he already was?! Rin was so angry that she didn't realize she was washing…well, thin air. She realized she had finished all the dishes. Grudgingly, she walked towards the fridge, the smell of cooked fish wafting towards her and making her stomach rumble. _Well, I better hurry up and microwave that loaf already if I want to cook! _she thought determinedly. Opening the fridge, she was astonished to find fruits and vegetables sitting companionably inside. The only thing that came remotely close to what she had expected to be there was a bucket of disgusting bait. _Eeeew, _she thought. _I hope _we _won't ever have to eat that._

The fish, unquestionably, took up half of the fridge, even though a third of it must've been eaten at breakfast and a quarter was being cooked for lunch. She finally spotted the loaf of bread and grabbed it. Then, an idea struck her. _If I cut it first, I don't have to microwave it as long! _she thought happily. Taking a knife, she carefully (so as to not cut herself) crudely (since she had no experience whatsoever at cutting bread) cut it into eight pieces and put them on a plate, and then, in the microwave and set it for thirty seconds. It was going smoothly for the first ten seconds before the microwave went _**BOOM!!**_, knocking Rin down to the floor. She saw smoke pouring from the open microwave and dazedly wondered what had happened. Naraku shot towards the microwave with gloves on his hands and fury on his face as he pulled the plate out. A very charred and almost unrecognizable knife fell out. Rin's face was masked with horror as she realized that she had left the knife on the plate when she microwaved the bread. Speaking of the bread…

"What were you _thinking_!" Naraku spat vehemently, his whole body shaking from rage. "Not only is the microwave ruined, but the bread as well! Bread is precious on a ship! Now you've wasted a whole loaf!" He was about to toss them all into the garbage bin when Rin pulled on the plate. "WHAT DO YOU WANT NOW?!" he roared.

"I'm sorry…I-I'll eat the whole thing…" she whispered, her voice trembling and tears now pouring down her face. "I'LL EAT THE WHOLE THING IF YOU WANT!!" Before Naraku could protest, she snatched a slice and stuffed it into her mouth…and nearly choked on it in surprise. However, Naraku took this the wrong way and panicked. He beat her back in hopes of dislodging the bread (wow, did he ever take CPR training?) saying, "You fool! I don't want them to sue me for your death as well as the microwave!"

Kagura just happened to come down to fill up the water bucket at this moment and thought, _What is that _horrible _smell? _and then _Oh God, Uncle Naraku is beating Rin!!_

"STOP!! That's, like, child abuse!!" Kagura cried, rushing at him with the bucket.

Rin finally swallowed the bread and yelled, "Hold it! I'm alright!!" Both Naraku and Kagura paused in mid-movement.

"Are you OK, Rin?" Naraku and Kagura asked incredulously.

"YES! And so's the bread, Naraku!" she said excitedly.

Naraku's incredulous expression was priceless, and Rin laughed, saying, "Try it! It's still good!"

"Like, what the heck just happened here?" Kagura demanded, equally bewildered. "I thought you were beating Rin up, Uncle!"

"What!" Naraku protested. "I was only doing that because I thought she was choking!!"

"I only choked because I was surprised," Rin explained. "And it's still good, right?"

Naraku slowly nodded. For some miraculous reason, the bread tasted as good as new. Just then, a new smell hit them; this time the smoke was from…

"THE FISH!!" he exclaimed as he ran back to the stove, turned it off, and managed to salvage them before they were completely black. Tiredly, he said, "Rin, go tell the others that lunch is ready."

"Right away!" Rin complied happily as she dashed off.

Kagura then noticed the demolished microwave. "And, like, what happened to the _microwave_?!"

"Rin microwaved a metal knife in there along with the bread," Naraku answered wearily.

A thought hit Kagura. "That means…you'll have to teach her to cook now, huh?"

Apparently, Naraku hadn't thought of that. "Oh, _no_…"

At that moment, the captain, Inu-Yasha, Koga, Hakudoshi, Sesshomaru, and Rin entered the kitchen.

"What's that _smell_?" Inu-Yasha complained, wrinkling his nose.

"I BELIEVE IT'S JUST YOUR IMAGINATION!!" the captain replied. "I KNOW _I_ TEND TO HALLUCINATE WHEN _I'M _HUNGRY!!" And with that said, he sat Inu-Yasha down at the table. As everyone else sat themselves down, Inu-Yasha exclaimed, "Hey, my fish is burnt!" Sesshomaru saw that his fish, too, was burnt, and, sadly, he could not take Inu-Yasha's fish since it was also burnt. This left him fuming silently.

Rin noticed, with guilt, and offered, "You can have my fish, if you want."

Sesshomaru was surprised, as he hadn't considered that anyone would actually offer it to him, and he found he couldn't reply. After a moment of silence, in which everyone was staring at him, awaiting his answer, he muttered, "No thanks."

Inu-Yasha's surprise shown through his raised eyebrows, but he quickly started on his fish when Sesshomaru glared at him. His older brother obviously didn't want to eat a burnt piece of fish and would gladly take someone else's, yet he had declined when asked? Inu-Yasha found that he could not get that thought out of his head.

"This bread tastes…funny," Hakudoshi remarked. Naraku, Rin, and Kagura jerked their heads up sharply.

"My bread tastes fine," Koga said nonchalantly.

"THAT'S RIGHT, HAKUDOSH!! DON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT SUCH EXCELLENT FOOD FROM SUCH EXCELLENT COOKS!!"

_It's just fish and bread, _everyone thought with a sweat drop.

So, of course, since it was only fish and bread, they were quickly done.

"OK!! NAP TIME!!"

Everyone stared at the captain in disbelief.

"TO YOUR BUNKS!!"

Still no response.

"HELLO?!" The captain was beginning to wonder if his yelling had made them all deaf.

"HEYADOODLYCOCKATOODLY—"

"We heard you," Hakudoshi said irritably. "Why do we have to take a nap; we're not kindergarteners—"

"WE STILL HAVE TO GET UP AT AROUND THE SAME TIME TOMORROW, SO I THINK YOU BETTER APPRECIATE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SLEEP, EH?" the captain bellowed cheerfully.

To this everyone had to agree, but…

"And what about you two?" Kagura challenged haughtily.

"We have to manage the ship," Naraku stated flatly, though he wished he could just lie down and forget the whole deal.

_I highly doubt it, _Hakudoshi thought, well, doubtfully but didn't voice his opinion aloud.

And so, they all trudged back to their bunks and tried to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4 How They Didn't End Up Sleepin

**Summer Survival**

"_And so, they all trudged back to their bunks and tried to sleep_."

**How They Didn't End Up Sleeping After All**

They didn't end up sleeping after all.

"_Pssst_," Hakudoshi whispered.

"What?!" Koga growled; he had almost fallen asleep, too!

"Have you ever wondered about where we're headed?" Hakudoshi asked.

"Oh yeah, huh," Inu-Yasha said. "They didn't say anything about that. I thought we were just going to sail around the ocean for a month and turn back. Why?"

"I don't know," Hakudoshi said innocently. "It's just that it doesn't seem like the captain has been steering the ship ever since we set off, does it? I wonder what that means…"

This caught their attention, including Sesshomaru, who had been ignoring their whispering up until now.

"They probably have a GPS system…" Inu-Yasha said, though he wasn't as sure as he sounded.

"Shall we go spy on them?" Hakudoshi suggested slyly.

"I don't see why not, now that you've made it impossible to sleep," Koga grumbled, but he, too, was curious as to what the whole deal was about.

Slowly, carefully, quietly, they crept out of their bunks and tiptoed to the door, where they opened it just a fraction—

_Creeeeeaaak._

At first, they panicked and thought Naraku might hear the noise, but when Sesshomaru glanced around, he saw that the girls' door was open as well and realized it must have been their door that made the creak. His suspicions were confirmed when Kagura began reprimanding Rin in a hushed voice when she noticed the boys.

"Couldn't sleep?" she asked wryly.

They stopped short of the kitchen, where the captain and Naraku were still in. They seemed to be absorbed in a discussion.

_Not steering after all? _Hakudoshi thought smugly.

"Are you sure this will work?" Naraku asked skeptically.

"Of course," the captain replied, which nearly caused the lot of them to collapse on each other in shock. The captain was speaking…normally?! What could this mean?!

Naraku heaved a sigh. "But we could drift for days, weeks, maybe months and not find one. And we don't have months."

"Well, we have to find one that hasn't been found yet if we're to be rid of it for good."

Kagura felt it coming, but couldn't stop it. She sneezed.

And, unfortunately, this time, Naraku heard her.

Without saying a word, he stormed over to where they hid. Koga tried to run for it, but Naraku grabbed his ponytail before he could get away. Nonetheless, this allowed Sesshomaru and Hakudoshi to get away, though the captain had Inu-Yasha and Kagura in his grasp. Naraku had an iron grip on Rin's wrist, and it began to sink in what the scene looked like. It was just like in the books she read; there were six kids who eavesdropped on two villains plotting…something villainous but one of them made a noise and four were caught and two escaped, hopefully to get help and rescue the other four…she then realized that was impossible as they were in the middle of the ocean and cut off from the rest of civilization, and it didn't seem like Hakudoshi or Sesshomaru would try to rescue them anyhow.

"What's this, Captain?" Inu-Yasha growled, struggling (in vain) in the captain's grip. "What are you trying to get rid of?"

"Like, I have no idea what you're talking about, Uncle," Kagura said hysterically. "So can you please, like, let me go?"

"What are you trying to find?" Rin demanded, putting up a brave front to make up for Kagura's cowardice.

"You won't get away with this, you hear?" Koga yelled aggressively, trying to kick Naraku, though it was somewhat difficult being held by your ponytail a good foot off the ground and three feet away from your target.

"What shall we do with them, sir?" Naraku asked, raising an eyebrow.

"LET'S PRETEND NONE OF THIS HAPPENED AND GET ON WITH OUR DAILY LIVES!!" the captain replied, and the two of them dropped the four onto the floor in a heap. "NOW, WHY DON'T RIN AND NARAKU GO PREPARE DINNER AND THE REST OF US **ACTUALLY FINISH **SWABBING THE DECKS!! KOG, YOU'RE PRETTY FAST! GO GET SESHMARU AND HAKUDOSH! KAG, INU-YASHA, LET'S GET STARTED FIRST!!" He then stormed above deck towing Inu-Yasha in his wake. Naraku sighed and tried to ignore Rin's questioning expression as he thought about what to make for dinner that night. Koga was already gone to fetch Sesshomaru and Hakudoshi.

However, when he went to the boys' quarters, he saw that they were not in their bunks. He checked the bathroom. Not there. He scratched his head. Where could they have gone?

Koga went above deck to tell the captain he couldn't find them when he heard Inu-Yasha and Kagura exclaiming, "What are you DOING?!" and the captain yelling, "DON'T WORRY, I'LL SAVE YOU!!"

He ran over to where they were (which is at the edge of the ship) and saw that Hakudoshi and Sesshomaru were seated in a small rowboat suspended at the side of the ship. They had somehow cut the rope and the only thing keeping them attached to the ship was the captain. His first thought was _Wow, the captain's _reaaaally _strong _and then _What _are _they doing? _and then _Oh yeah, they still think the captain's a bad guy _and finally _Wait, isn't he? _Before he could hurt his head too much thinking about it, the captain interrupted his thoughts with a loud _thump! _as he hauled the whole boat aboard.

"DON'T DO ANYTHING SO DANGEROUS AGAIN!!" the captain scolded deafeningly. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT GOT INTO YOUR HEADS, BUT YOU COULD'VE BEEN LOST AT SEA WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER FOR DAYS AND…AND…" All of a sudden, he burst into tears and bear- hugged Hakudoshi and Sesshomaru. Inu-Yasha, Kagura, and Koga's minds went blank from the shock of it. It was silent save the captain's occasional sniffing and sobbing. Finally, after approximately five minutes, Sesshomaru was the first to absorb what just happened and said coldly, "Your charade doesn't fool me."

Hakudoshi was the second to gather his wits. "Let go of us if you don't have a death wish." He held a gleaming, sharp knife at the captain's throat.

Inu-Yasha gasped, Kagura screamed and closed her eyes and covered her ears, and Koga made up his mind and exclaimed, "Now that's going too far—"

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING, BUT I CAN'T TELL YOU THE TRUTH; IT'S NOT WORTH KNOWING!!" the captain bawled, plucking the knife out of Hakudoshi's hand as easily as if it were blunt. "SEE HERE—"_ sniff—_"YOU PROBABLY HEARD ALL THE WRONG STUFF AND ARE ASSUMING THINGS I CAN'T IMAGINE, BUT—" _sniff—_"ME AND NARAKU, WE'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING WRONG AND WE AREN'T GOING TO DO ANYTHING TO YOU SO DON'T ACT SO FOOLHARDY AND GET YOURSELVES KILLED!!" He said some other things like "Foolish kids" and "They oughtn't know these kinds of things" and "They got it hard already" before he began to calm down and continued, though his voice was still haggard. "I promise you, you'll all get to go home safely at the end of this trip. NOW LET'S JUST FORGET WHAT JUST HAPPENED AND GET ON MOPPING!!"

Everyone was battered and bruised from the unexpectedness of it all, and struggled to mop as their thoughts kept jumping all over. They were so baffled that they forgot, **once again, **there was no water. The captain realized they were in no condition to mop and decided to give up the task. "ALRIGHTY!! SEEING AS HOW IT'S GETTING DARK ANYWAYS, LET'S ALL WATCH _HOW TO SURVIVE AT SEA_(that's the name of the movie they watched earlier)ONCE MORE TO REFRESH OUR MEMORIES!!"

Even if they could refuse, they were in no state to as they captain dragged them all off to his quarters.

Rin was too scared to ask what the whole deal was about and followed all of Naraku's orders without hesitation. She washed the dishes in the same fashion she had during lunch; no one complained about them then, so she supposed it should be okay. After she finished and set the table, Naraku told her which ingredients to fetch, and she realized he was making soup again. Fish soup. Rin would have laughed if she wasn't so frightened. It was worse when they had to wait for the soup to boil. There was nothing to occupy her or Naraku then. In the awkward silence, Rin's imagination went wild. Could they be looking for…treasure? A rare species maybe—mermaids? She almost laughed out loud but one look at Naraku's grim face made her grin fade. _Poor mermaids, _she thought, _to be stuck with him. Poor _me. Her thoughts were interrupted when the captain thundered past the kitchen with the five unwilling passengers trailing behind him. This all happened in a flash. Then the fire began hissing, and the pot cover looked ready to fly off.

Once the soup was done, Naraku sent her to fetch the others. Rin was still afraid to question him and so went towards the others' relative direction and hoped she might run into them. She did, but now she wished she hadn't. Much to her horror, the song from the end of the dreaded movie floated out from the captain's door and she had the sudden urge to run away. Luckily for her, she didn't have to go inside after all as the movie ended and they all came out themselves, looking stricken and disgusted. Inu-Yasha looked the worst, as he was the only one of the five who actually had to watch it twice.

"Dinner…?" Rin offered tentatively, but they all appeared not to have heard her and strode past without recognition. Only the captain was cheerfully acknowledging her with a "THANK YOU!! NOW LET'S ALL GO ENJOY OUR WONDERFUL DINNER!!"

Dinner was blessedly uneventful as each person was left to their own thoughts.

No one said anything when they went to bed, with the exception of the captain, who ordered, "OFF TO BED, THE LOT O' YOU!"

However, once in bed, they did not immediately fall asleep. There was simply too much that went on that day to sleep so easily.

After moments of silence, Inu-Yasha asked, "So, what do you think they're up to?"

"Please, why bring this up when it should hardly concern us and we need our sleep?" Sesshomaru said in a sarcastic tone.

Inu-Yasha would've glared at his brother if he could only see him, "Fine. You don't care. But whatever it is they're planning, _I'm_ not just going to sit back and look in the other direction for their convenience."

"Me neither," Koga agreed. "I'm still confused as to whether the captain's the good guy or the bad guy."

"Maybe it's for your own convenience that you look in the opposite direction," Sesshomaru answered in a bored voice. "Because if you knew, they would have to kill you." He almost hoped they would; then he wouldn't have to do it himself.

"So why didn't they earlier?" Inu-Yasha countered.

"Because we had no idea what it is they're planning to do so there was no point in doing so," Sesshomaru pointed out, rolling his eyes.

"Even so, I'm still curious as to what they're not telling us," Hakudoshi said mischievously.

"Suit yourselves," Sesshomaru replied diffidently. "But I would prefer that we sleep before the captain begins snoring—"

_SNOOOOOOORE._

And so, only Naraku and the captain had a wink of sleep that night, again.

**Author's Note: **Sorry it took a while to update; I'm still busy. Don't you like how the title refers to both the beginning and the end of this chapter? It might not seem like it, but I was tempted to jump right into the main plot in the middle of this chapter, but I thought that they should spend a little more time on the ship. I'll try to keep it going, but I would love some ideas, please! Special chapter next week!—I hope.


	5. Chapter 5 The Three S's

**Summer Survival**

"_And so, only Naraku and the captain had a wink of sleep that night, again."_

**The Sunglasses Guy, the Shark, and the Sunset**

"ALRIGHT!! SINCE YOU'VE ALL WORKED SO HARD, I'LL LET YOU HAVE A LITTLE FUN TODAY!!"

It was early afternoon, and they had just finished their lunch after _finally _accomplishing the task of cleaning the deck. It took so long since everyone (besides the captain and Naraku, that is) was deprived of sleep last night and dozed off every ten seconds; the captain had to walk around prodding people awake instead of mopping himself. Fortunately for Rin, she was excused from mopping duty in order to help Naraku prepare their breakfast, but she fell asleep at the same rate as the others, thus Naraku let her sleep after he rescued five plates from shattering as Rin was washing the dishes and dropped them when she dozed.

The captain elaborated further. "AS OF THIS MOMENT WE ARE ABOVE A CORAL REEF, SO I SAY WE ALL GO SNORKELING!!"

Sesshomaru cleared his throat. "But we don't _all_ have to go, do we?"

"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!! WE _ALL _GO!!" the captain boomed enthusiastically. "NOW, TO PREPARE US FOR THE ADVENTURE, I HAVE _JUST _THE MOVIE FOR TIPS AND SAFETY PRECAUTIONS OUT _IN _THE SEA!! FOLLOW ME!!" Once again, he did not give them the option of refusal as he dragged them all off to watch what they feared would be The Return of the Sun Glasses Guy.

Unfortunately, they were right.

"Aloha, everyone!" He flashed that same smile everyone wished they had forgotten. "That's Hawaiian for 'hello', and if you've watched my last movie, _How To Survive At Sea_, you'll know I'm now in Hawaii, so it is now appropriate for me to say 'Aloha!' rather than 'Hello!' I've also introduced Chip and Chipper, but just in case you haven't seen my previous movie, I'll introduce them again! Say hello, Chip!"

"Hi!" said Chip.

"Say hello, Chipper!"

"HIIIIIIIII-HI-HI-HI-HI-HI-HIIIIIIIIII!!" said Chipper.

Sesshomaru clutched at his ears in evident pain.

"And we'll be teaching you how to survive out _in_ the ocean!" The same unconvincing model of a boat floated towards them. "And here's our ship! All aboard!" The scene blacked out to show them, once more, 'inside the ship'.

"First, before you explore the ocean, you will need a few things, like an air tank—" Chip held up a bottle that was labeled OXYGEN—"a diving suit—" Chipper held up the typical black suit that divers wear, along with goggles, a mouthpiece, and the tube. "Oh, not yet, Chipper!" the sunglasses guy groaned before remembering that he was being filmed and gave a smile to the camera. "Something that goes in your mouth, and something to connect that to the tank—"

The captain paused the film. "ACTUALLY, SINCE WE'RE SNORKELING INSTEAD, FORGET EVERYTHING HE JUST SAID RIGHT THERE!! IF FOR SOME REASON YOU BROUGHT YOUR OWN SWIMSUIT AND GOGGLES, JUST PUT THOSE ON!! FOR THE REST OF YOU, MAKE DO WITH JUST THE CLOTHES YOU HAVE ON RIGHT NOW!"

"How are we snorkeling if we don't have any snorkels?" Hakudoshi pointed out.

The captain seemed lost in thought. "I DON'T KNOW!!" He shrugged. "LET'S MOVE ON—"

"Hold on!" Inu-Yasha interrupted. "This movie…isn't also three hours long, is it?"

The captain beamed. "NOPE!!"

They let out a sigh of relief.

"THIS IS A GOOD FORTY MINUTES LONGER!!"

Everyone hollered, "_**WHAT!!**_"

Rin even screamed in horror.

"I bet their end song'll be ten minutes long this time." Koga was on the verge of crying.

"Don't hex us!!" Inu-Yasha snarled, ready to kill Koga if what he said came true.

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN!!" the captain roared over them.

This time, he told them to reject almost everything the man mentioned, as they were snorkeling instead of scuba diving.

To spare the reader from the full dreadfulness of the movie, here are just a few mild notes about it:

-the background was the same for the whole three hours of the movie

-the background was solid blue with pink squiggly lines at the bottom (probably supposed to be a coral reef) and Dory, Mervin, and Nemo hugging each other smack in the middle of it all

-'Advice' #1: "When you run out of air in your air tank, you'll have to make do with holding your breath."

-'Advice' #2: "When you see a shark coming, thrash, splash, and make as much noise as you can to scare it away."

-'Advice' #3: "If, for whatever reason, it isn't scared away, which it should be, then toss a buddy for it to eat as a snack to make your escape."

-Chipper actually complied to be eaten for the sake of the sunglasses guy

-Actually, this shouldn't come as too much of a surprise as, besides him having no brain whatsoever, the shark was hardly the size of his head

And these were some of the only tolerable parts. The worst, very absolute worst part was the ending, which was not ten minutes like Koga feared, but thirty.

_We've started out with our ship_

_With diving 'quipment and one wish:_

_To go diving and see the fish!_

_Now, after swimming from our ship_

_We have finally gotten our wish_

_To go diving and see the fish!_

_To go diving and see the fish!_

_To go diving and see the fish!_

Repeated over and over for thirty minutes.

After it finally ended, they were not sure if they were capable of even staying afloat in the water, so great was their astoundment.

"Is it done?" Naraku asked, taking his muffling equipment off—which was his mistake.

All of a sudden, Koga emitted a deafening yell of horror.

"What's your problem!" Inu-Yasha yelled back, though hardly as loud. Naraku was irked and looked ready to give them both another beating.

"It's…It's that song…" Koga whispered hoarsely, then howled. "IT'S STUCK IN MY HEAD!!"

Naraku was not happy to hear that he might possibly have to listen to such a song and threatened, "If you utter one note pertaining to that song, I will give you a beating you will be sure never to forget. Or perhaps I should do it now, to empty your mind with pain…?"

"No-No! I got it!" Koga stammered fearfully. Oh why, oh why, oh why? What did he do to deserve this—oh. He knew. But it wasn't like he meant it—

"GO CHANGE IF YOU WANT!! WE'LL ALL MEET OUT ON THE DECK!!" the captain announced. When Naraku put his earphones back on, the captain yanked them off. "YOU TOO, THE ROCK—YOU!!"

"I have to cook," Naraku said simply.

"OK, FINE!! YOU CAN COOK!! BUT YOU'LL MISS THE LOVELY WEATHER OUTSIDE!!"

Naraku shrugged; he didn't care.

And so, he was the only one who got to sit out.

As it turned out, Kagura was the only one who brought a swimsuit, after all, it wasn't like the captain told them they were going swimming. She had sunscreen lotion as well, but she wasn't sharing.

"You can get, like, skin cancer for all _I _care. I am _not _sharing my lotion with _boys,_" she said disgustedly. However, she wasn't sharing with Rin, either.

"DON'T WORRY!! I GOT SUNSCREEN!!" the captain bellowed, much to their relief—until the smell hit them. It was…it was…

"Repulsive," was all Sesshomaru could manage.

"You're kidding me…that cannot be sunscreen," Inu-Yasha choked.

"UGH! That stinks worse than the boys' locker room!" Koga gagged, and that was saying much.

_What is that _made _of?! _Hakudoshi thought disgustedly.

Rin fainted.

"THIS IS ALL PURPOSE REPELLANT!! IT REPELS FLEAS, MOSQUITOES, BEARS, EVEN UV RAYS!!" _Somehow, I'm not surprised, _they all thought sarcastically. Just then, the captain noticed Rin. "OH DEAR! LOOKS LIKE SHE WON'T BE ABLE TO GO! SOMEONE GO CARRY HER TO HER ROOM! THE REST OF YOU PUT SOME REPELLANT ON!! THEN MEET ME AND KAG OUT ON THE DECK!!" He then stomped away. The four boys looked at each other indecisively, wondering who would carry Rin and if they really wanted to put the stuff on. Luckily for them, in one aspect, Rin woke up. "What…AGH! What's that smell?!"

"Inu-Yasha. No, just kidding," Koga joked. Sesshomaru had to smile at that one.

"Repellant," Inu-Yasha replied, giving Koga a nasty glare.

"In other words, our sunscreen," Hakudoshi added.

"We have to put…_that _on?" She wrinkled her nose.

"ARE YOU DONE YET?!" the captain roared from above.

"I suppose that's a yes," Hakudoshi answered.

Koga bravely squirted some from the bottle onto his hand. It was the color of dung and smelled even worse. "Uh…does anyone else want to put it on first?" he asked desperately. Of course, no one volunteered. Reluctantly, he smothered some all over his arms. "Oh! Ugh! I THINK IT'S SOAKING INTO MY SKIN!!"

_**!!**_everyone thought in alarm, backing away from Koga and the repellant. Nonetheless, he finished what he started and covered his face and legs with it.

"You suckers put it on if you want. It may be disgusting, but at least _I_ won't get sun-burned.," Koga said smugly. Provoked, Inu-Yasha snatched it from him.

"Hmph! This had better be worth it!" he growled as he slathered it on. He held it out mockingly at Sesshomaru, who said stubbornly, "I'm not taking it from _you_."

To prevent a fight from brewing, Rin took it and put it on, shuddering at the stench as she did so, before handing it to him. Sesshomaru was speechless, but took it nonetheless.

Only Hakudoshi refused to put any on. "I didn't see the captain put any on," was his reason.

So they trudged up to where the captain was waiting with Kagura. "ALL RIGHT! THE WHOLE CREW (minus one Naraku) IS HERE!! LET'S GO!!"

"Hold on," Inu-Yasha said as the captain unfurled the rope down the ship. "Don't you need to put on repellant, too?"

"ACTUALLY, NO! I'M YOUR LIFEGUARD, AND I GET TO STAY UP HERE UNDER AN UMBRELLA!!" To prove his point, he produced a beach umbrella and propped it against the wall. "GO ON!! DON'T WORRY ABOUT SHARKS!! IF I SEE ONE, I'LL GIVE A YELL LIKE THIS!

"_**SHAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRK!! SHARKSHARKSHARKSHARK!!**_"

Everyone nearly fell from the sheer force of the 'alarm'. But to avoid having the captain yell again, they scrambled to climb down the rope.

"I dare you to jump off the ship!" Koga dared Inu-Yasha, smirking.

"Easy. But I'll only do it if you push Hakudoshi off first!" Inu-Yasha said triumphantly, knowing full well Hakudoshi had heard him and that he probably planned to convince the captain to let him stay onboard. Koga paled. Hakudoshi frowned.

"Hakudoshi, save them the trouble and get down yourself," Sesshomaru advised boredly before he descended the rope. All of a sudden, Koga and Inu-Yasha smiled profoundly.

Rin and Kagura were already in the water, and Kagura was lying on an inflatable couch, basking in the sun's rays much like in her dreams. _Ah, if everyday could be like this, I wouldn't mind this trip so much, _she thought luxuriously. That is, until Rin splashed her playfully. This snapped Kagura out of her reverie, and she was not happy. "Grrr, you little brat!" she snarled, paddling furiously towards Rin, intent on murder. Rin realized her mistake and screamed as she tried to get away. Kagura was just about to grab Rin when she was shoved off her couch into the water. Above deck Koga and Inu-Yasha were howling with laughter. Kagura spotted white hair. Hakudoshi…?

"Sesshomaru!!" she screeched, Rin all but forgotten now. She freestyled towards him, whipping her arms like scythes. Sesshomaru ducked underwater so that she sped past and above him. Sesshomaru then swam away underwater, silently cursing his brother and Koga and thinking about how to get back at them.

Meanwhile, Koga was nagging Inu-Yasha on keeping his end of the deal.

"I shoved your hated brother into the water, now you have to jump!" he stated.

"No, we _both _shoved him off, which means either I don't jump or we both jump," Inu-Yasha corrected, then taunted, "But if you're too scared to jump…"

"Scared? Hah! You wish!" Koga snorted and, before Inu-Yasha could say anything, heaved himself overboard. Inu-Yasha, not to be outdone, actually ran towards the edge and leaped. When he looked down, though, his heart missed a beat. _That's probably not as far as it looks, _he thought hopefully as he hurtled towards the ocean.

And thus, Hakudoshi got to stay onboard after all.

Kagura finally realized that Sesshomaru was gone, and her fury evaporated. A little. She then returned to her couch and had just gotten herself comfortable once more when she noticed a shadow over her. What…? Moments later, Koga crash landed on the edge of the couch with enough force to make it and Kagura flip a good five feet into the air before landing back into the water, albeit upturned. Kagura was beyond furious at this point, and when Koga resurfaced, he had only cried, "Woo-wee! That was fan_tas_tic!" before he was underwater once more. "You…You LOSER!!" Kagura shrieked, her eyes and manner wild like a madman, er, woman as she bashed him with her inflatable couch. "LOSER!" _Bam! _"LOSER!" _Bam! _"LOOOOOSERLOSERLOSERLOSER—" _BAM! BAMBAMBAM! _All of a sudden, Kagura stopped. Koga finally resurfaced, though he was unconscious. There was a shadow beneath them. Kagura screamed.

Inu-Yasha landed feet first into the water—or he would have, if his brother's face wasn't in there first. Sesshomaru, too, had noticed a shadow looming over him, and looked up to see…his brother's feet. Like Kagura, he had had enough and caught his brother in a headlock. "You know what? I hate you!" he cried hoarsely, losing his temper and punched Inu-Yasha in the face. Inu-Yasha punched and kicked back, and he flailed so much Sesshomaru had to let go of him. Inu-Yasha, though released, did not try to swim away as 1) his brother would have caught him again anyway and 2) he was mad as well.

"Well, guess what? I hate you too!" he yelled back. His brother shoved him underwater, and Inu-Yasha dragged him down along with him. They were kicking punching like that last fight, Inu-Yasha vaguely recalled, though he was too angry to think about anything other than beating Sesshomaru to a bloody pulp. They were so engrossed, in fact, that they failed to notice the dark fin circling around them.

Hakudoshi almost wished he had gone down now, instead of staying with the captain, as he would ramble on about things so boring and so loud Hakudoshi found it impossible to drown it all out. He did, however, notice Kagura beating Koga up and Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru having their own little fight, and it served to make up for the captain's company, though he did wonder why the captain didn't stop them. And then Kagura screamed. The captain bolted up and ran towards the edge of the ship. "WHAT'S THE MATTER, KAG—"

Something he saw stopped the captain cold. Hakudoshi was about to walk over and look himself when the captain boomed, "_**SHAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRK!! SHARKSHARKSHARKSHARK!!**_"

Kagura, even after hearing the alert, continued screaming and screaming atop her inflatable couch. "SOMEONE! SAVE ME!" She was so preoccupied with her own 'predicament' that she didn't see Koga sink below the waves.

The captain, however, did, and he yelled, "HOLD ON, KOG!!" as he did a perfect dive off the ship and slipped into the water without a sound. He resurfaced with Koga and took hold of Kagura's inflatable couch as he swam towards the rope by kicking his legs like a motor. He almost made it, too, when the shark grabbed Kagura's inflatable.

Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru were in and out of the water so frequently that they became oblivious to anything around them, including the captain's shark alarm. They didn't notice anything…until they found themselves face to face with the shark.

"My inflatable! IT'S GOT MY INFLATABLE!!" Kagura screamed with a frequency that even the best opera singers would envy.

"FORGET YOUR INFLATABLE!!" the captain roared back, now dragging her off and making for the rope. But Kagura was panicked, and she broke from the captain's grasp. The shark, having popped the inflatable already, went after Kagura. The captain yelled to Hakudoshi, "HAKUDOSHI! GET KOGA UP WHILE I HELP KAGURA!!" Hakudoshi, shocked that the captain actually said all their names correctly, realized this was serious, and it only took him a few seconds to decide to do as the captain said. _I'll make them all owe me for this, _he thought grumpily, well aware he risked getting sunburned.

Sesshomaru recalled the sunglasses guy's third advice and tried push Inu-Yasha in front of the shark. However, Inu-Yasha recalled this advice at the same time and tried to push Sesshomaru in front of the shark. So what happened was they almost started another fight by seeing who should be bait.

"I'm older, so you have to do what I say," Sesshomaru grunted. "And I say you're bait!"

"You're older, so you have to take care of me!" Inu-Yasha countered, knowing full well his brother never did. "So that means you should be bait!"

They were jolted back to reality when they felt the shark brush past them. And when they looked this time, there were two of them.

Hakudoshi came down to get Koga, but what he got instead was a front row seat to a battle between man and shark. His cousin was still flailing around and screaming and being useless, but the captain bopped the shark on the nose, landed a kick on its gills, and smashed his fist under its jaw in a glorious uppercut. When Kagura finally became useful and hit the shark's eye from pure luck, the shark decided they were too much trouble and swam away.

Hakudoshi was still staring after the captain swam up to him and told Kagura to help him carry Koga back onboard the ship while he go help Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru until the captain hollered, "HAKUDOSH! ARE YOU LISTENING?!"

"Yes," Hakudoshi answered peevishly, and he dragged Koga up the rope, though he felt he would lose his arms in the process. Kagura followed him but didn't help in one bit as she went on complaining about how expensive the inflatable was and how she'd sue— "The shark?" Hakudoshi asked sarcastically. "Kagura, the captain just saved your life. Shut up."

Kagura did shut up, but she still didn't help Hakudoshi carry Koga up.

"What'll we do now?" Inu-Yasha whispered, wracking his brains for anything he knew about sharks.

"Nothing," Sesshomaru replied in an 'obviously' tone. "We're dead."

"No we're not!" Inu-Yasha protested. "How can you give up now?!"

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "No, you imbecile. Act like you're dead."

Inu-Yasha understood what he meant. "Oh."

They tread water for a minute when the fight they had took its toll on them.

"Shouldn't we—glub—try to get back to the ship?" Inu-Yasha asked as a wave washed over him.

"You could try," Sesshomaru said, hoping that the sharks would eat his brother, but then he found the idea of being by himself in the midst of sharks in a feeding frenzy unappealing and added, "But I wouldn't advise it." It then startled him to see his brother half-submerged. He yanked him up. "What are you doing?" he yelled.

Inu-Yasha blearily blinked his eyes. "I'm frickin tired…"

"Well, lay on your back! Idiot!" Sesshomaru snarled, thinking his brother must be one to forget that.

Inu-Yasha did as he was told, too tired to argue. Sesshomaru, too, laid on his back. It felt odd turning your back to something that might potentially eat you, but he was worn out as well. There was an odd calm silence for a while as they watched the sun set.

"Hey, Sesshomaru?" Inu-Yasha mumbled.

"What?" Sesshomaru asked grumpily.

"This is the first sunset we've ever saw, isn't it?"

"Unless you count the one the sunglasses guy was standing in front of."

"I mean a real sunset!" Inu-Yasha snapped; he didn't want to think about that particular person right now.

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes. "Yes, Inu-Yasha. We are watching our _very first _sunset while a couple of sharks are circling below us."

Inu-Yasha ignored his sarcasm.

More silence.

"Hey, Sesshomaru?"

"What now?" Sesshomaru furrowed his brows in irritation.

Inu-Yasha sighed in an almost sad way. "Why are we always fighting?"

"Because we hate each other," Sesshomaru answered promptly, though he felt weird saying it.

More silence, and this time Inu-Yasha noticed something.

"Hey, Sesshomaru—"

"Stop asking so many questions!" Sesshomaru snarled furiously, slamming the water.

Inu-Yasha paled. "I was going to say the sharks are gone, but now they're back again…" Indeed, the sharks had began to lose interest in them when Sesshomaru slammed the water, and now they were circling much closer to the two.

_Grooowl._

"Sorry," Inu-Yasha said sheepishly. "I'm hungry."

"Oh, _you're _hungry," Sesshomaru remarked sardonically. That's _just_ what they needed.

"Excuse _me_, but it's dinner. Can I help that?" Inu-Yasha grumbled in response.

Just then, they noticed loud splashing noises headed towards them.

"OH…! HAH…! NO WORRIES! I'M HERE TO HELP YOU—_GLUB GLUB GLUB_" Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru turned to see the captain looking like he needed more help than they did.

"QUICK…LET'S HEAD BACK…I'LL HOLD THEM OFF…" the captain gasped.

The two brothers looked at each other, back behind them, and back at each other, feeling dismayed. It was getting dark, and they could barely make out the ship. And not only that, it was obvious that the captain was _not _going to be able to hold the sharks off.

"Soooo…what now?" asked Inu-Yasha.

"SWIM BACK TO SHIP!!" the captain answered before he disappeared underwater.

"What about the sharks?" Sesshomaru asked.

"NOT TO WORRY!!" the captain resurfaced before plunging down again, and this time he punched a shark's nose. Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru stared in horror.

"GO! GO! GO!" the captain yelled at the top of his lungs and began assailing the other shark as well.

Nervously, the two brothers began swimming away. However, one shark broke loose and was tailing them.

"Look out!" Inu-Yasha screamed as the shark looked ready to bite his brother's leg off. He karate chopped its nose, and it swerved, just inches from Sesshomaru's foot. Sesshomaru was too shocked from that close encounter to say anything, good or bad, to his brother, and Inu-Yasha was too nervous at having hit a shark to wonder about saving his brother. They had just reached the rope when another shark appeared. It was the one the captain had beaten earlier, and it was hungry and back for revenge.

"Move!" Sesshomaru impatiently shoved Inu-Yasha aside as he hurried to climb up the rope first.

"Oh, no you don't!" Inu-Yasha growled, pulling him back into the water.

"What are you doing!" Sesshomaru snarled. "You want us both to get eaten?"

"If you hadn't noticed, the captain's still not back! We can't just leave him to the sharks!" Inu-Yasha argued hotly.

"YES WE CAN!" Sesshomaru shouted back. Before either of them could say anything more, the shark barreled past them.

"Let's discuss this a little farther up the rope, shall we?" Sesshomaru asked calmly.

"Fine! _You _can go back up, what are the others going to say when they see you back without the captain?" Inu-Yasha shot back.

Sesshomaru found himself weighing the pros and cons between the shark and the Whipper. "But what can _we _do to—" His reply was cut short by the sight of the shark's huge maw right behind his brother. Inu-Yasha, alarmed by the expression of horror on Sesshomaru's face, turned around to see the shark being slammed into the side of the boat before it fell still.

"NOW, WHAT'LL WE DO WITH THIS?"

The captain then noticed the two brothers. "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU TWO STILL DOING DOWN HERE? AH, NEVERMIND THAT. HELP ME HEAVE THIS ONBOARD, WILL YOU?"

Now, you must be wondering about Rin by now. She just happened to see a turtle and began following it. But once she noticed how dark the sky was getting, she tried looking for the ship and found she could not see it and began to panic and cry. The sea (ocean? lol) turtle felt sorry for her and led her back to the ship, where they shook hands/fins and became friends.

When Naraku went above deck to declare dinner ready, he saw his niece with her hair all messed up and his nephew looking splotchy and red supporting an unconscious Koga; then the captain, Inu-Yasha, and Sesshomaru appeared on deck looking bruised and battered and carrying a humongous fish that had suspiciously sharp teeth. Rin followed up behind them, looking all chipper and happy as she inquired about the shark.

"IT'LL BE FOR BREAFAST TOMORROW!!" the captain answered. "AND I ASSUME DINNER'S READY, EH NARAKU?"

Naraku simply nodded and didn't voice his concern that their fridge could not hold anymore fish, much less one that was a good deal larger than it. He only concluded that he did not miss any lovely weather outside.

At the dinner table, it appeared no one wanted to talk about their day except Rin.

"And that's my day!" she ended cheerfully. Everyone glared at her enviously. However, she mistook their glares as scorn and said annoyedly, "So what did _you _guys see?"

"Shark," said Kagura, Hakudoshi, Inu-Yasha, and Sesshomaru.

"Cool! I wish _I _could have seen one!" Koga cried, banging the table. One look from them, though, made him reconsider that.

Being so worn out from the day's (mis)adventure, everyone managed to fall promptly to sleep and were, for once, not kept awake by the captain's snoring. They did not wake up till noon the next day.

**Author's Note: **Well, that was quite a long chapter! I can only update once a week now, so I'll try to condense a whole day into one chapter like this one. What will happen next time…?


	6. Chapter 6 A Stinky Day

**Summer Survival**

**A Stinky Day**

"_Being so worn out from the day's (mis)adventure, everyone managed to fall promptly to sleep and were, for once, not kept awake by the captain's snoring. They did not wake up till noon the next day."_

When they did wake up, they found themselves _ravenous_. Not only that, a disgusting fishy odor permeated throughout the boat. So they were extremely hungry yet lost their appetite, a combination that can make one very cross.

"What is that _smell_?" Koga held his nose but could not keep it out.

"Rotting fish," Inu-Yasha replied but regretted it when he had to inhale more fishy air.

"Rotting _shark_," Sesshomaru corrected, using his pillow to filter the smell.

"NARAKU, GO MAKE BREAKFAST!!" the captain yelled. "AND GET RID OF THE SMELL WHILE YOU'RE AT IT!"

"It's actually lunchtime, and I'm afraid it'll take a while to get rid of the smell even after I throw the shark into the water," Naraku sighed annoyed.

"BUT I WANTED SHARK FOR BREAKFAST!!" the captain wailed.

"Oh, hurry up and throw it out already!" Kagura screeched from her room. Rin had to close her ears but that meant she couldn't block her mouth and breathed in fishy air and coughed.

The door to the boys' quarters opened (they're all still in bed). "You four boys, kindly help me heave the rotting shark back into the sea," Naraku said crossly.

"Can't," Hakudoshi shot back just as crossly. "I got sunburned."

"You'll get more than that if you don't get up and help me," Naraku said with dangerous calm. "I can't cook until this is done with, and I'm sure you want to get rid of the smell as well?"

The four reluctantly followed Naraku out. Once they approached the kitchen, they nearly staggered from the intensity (in other words, stinkiness) of the smell.

_Oh man, give me the captain's sun tan lotion any day; this stuff _**stinks**_!! _Koga thought repulsively.

Naraku appeared unfazed by the smell, and the only sign that he was affected was his rising impatience and grouchiness. "Inu-Yasha, Sesshomaru, help me with the tail. Koga, Hakudoshi, push from the head."

"Eeeew! It feels even grosser than the captain's sun tan lotion!!" Koga sniveled.

"Just hurry up and do it!" Naraku snapped.

In the first pull/push, it took all their strength to move it an inch.

"Why isn't the captain helping us?" Inu-Yasha panted.

"He didn't want to throw his hard-earned shark away," Naraku grumbled.

"I never knew sharks had so many teeth!" Koga said in awe as he observed the shark's mouth. "Ergh…they're pretty sharp."

"Shut up," Naraku growled as everyone rolled their eyes at Koga's stupidity. "Now, one more time!"

Together, they managed to pull/push the shark out of the kitchen in ten minutes. While Koga was still sweating over how disgusting the shark was, Hakudoshi looked at the teeth more closely. There was a _huge _tooth in the front, far larger and sharper than the others surrounding it. Making sure Koga did not see, Hakudoshi pried it out and hid it in his pocket. _I should get something for my pains, at least, _he thought.

After thirty minutes, they managed to get it up the stairs. By this time, their stomachs were growling every five seconds, and they couldn't bear to move anymore.

"Get up! Fools! If we don't finish, you will get nothing to eat and a beating with that!" Naraku snarled nastily. This got them back up, but it took forever for them to get to the side of the ship; they were that hungry.

"DONE YET, NARAKU?!" the captain bellowed from below. "I'M HUNGRY!!"

"SO ARE WE!" Naraku bellowed back. "IF YOU WANT TO EAT, WHY DON'T YOU COME UP AND HELP US!!"

"RIN, GO MAKE SOMETHING TO EAT, PLEASE!!" the captain said instead.

Naraku cursed and actually heaved the whole shark over board himself. He left as it made a huge splash to the water below.

"Well, that's done with!" Koga announced triumphantly.

Suddenly, a whole swarm of sharks gathered where the dead one landed. Sesshomaru, Inu-Yasha, and Hakudoshi paled while Koga cried, "Sweet!"—until he became aware of their murderous looks that screamed, "Let's push him off and see how he likes it then!" Luckily, this chapter will not be about sharks, and so the sharks swam away after they were done.

Meanwhile, below deck, Rin was hit by the smelliness of the kitchen and couldn't advance a step further. _How…How did they ever get in there? _she thought weakly. Naraku rushed down to see her cowering from the smell and said, "Oh, good. I thought you would blow up the kitchen." This not only made her feel insulted but gave her courage to go into the stinky kitchen and open the fridge.

"What are you doing?" Naraku asked suspiciously.

"Oh, I'm not going to blow up the kitchen, if that's what you're thinking," Rin said evenly. There was _still _leftover fish, but no bread.

"If you're looking for bread, we're out," Naraku told her. "I'll have to make some more from scratch."

"Oh, not fish and bread _again_," Inu-Yasha groaned. Koga and Sesshomaru followed him into the kitchen and noted the improvement. The smell was impossible to get used to, but it was becoming more bearable since they threw the shark out.

"I can make a salad," Naraku said.(Recall they have fruits and veggies in their fridge!)

"Eeewww, _veggies_!" Koga spat.

A light bulb lit up above Rin's head.

"Naraku! We still have flour, right?" she asked excitedly.

"Of course—"

"Great! I've got an idea!" she interrupted. Naraku frowned at this rude behavior but allowed her to continue.

"What is it?" Koga asked curiously.

"It's a surprise!" she said, beaming.

"Why don't you leave us for now," Naraku 'suggested'. As they were about to leave, he noticed one of the boys were missing. "Where's Hakudoshi?"

"Went to nag Kagura for something to cure his sunburn," Inu-Yasha replied.

"Though I don't know how far he'll get with that." Koga shook his head sadly.

After they left, Rin whispered it to Naraku, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Well, you better finish washing the dishes then. I'll take care of the rest."

Rin hesitated before asking, "Will you let me cook this time?"

Naraku thought about it. "After you watch me do it," he said, consenting.

"I won't leave until you give it to me!"

Koga, Inu-Yasha, and Sesshomaru watched Hakudoshi from a distance, having nothing better to do.

"Like, whatever. I'll just keep on ignoring you," Kagura sniffed as she applied nail polish to her nails.

Hakudoshi lost his temper. He stormed into her room and snatched the bottle from her.

"Hey! Give that back—"

"Only after you give me that itch cream," he said slyly. Kagura could only glare at him furiously as she didn't want to ruin her nails by chasing after him.

"Ugh! Fine, you little twerp! Just be sure to give it back!" She took out a tube of itch cream and tossed it to him. Hakudoshi caught it and stared at the bottle of nail polish, contemplating whether he should hand it back or not.

"Give it! NOW!" Kagura ordered. Hakudoshi shrugged and placed it on the floor in front of him before he walked away.

The three boys rushed back to their room and pretended to be occupied with other things as Hakudoshi entered. Hakudoshi, however, was not fooled by Koga's apparent interest in the wall and said, "I know you were watching."

"Watching what?" Koga asked innocently, still staring at the wall.

"Don't be an idiot," Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru said at the same time, then glared at each other.

Hakudoshi sighed. "Whatever." He unscrewed the cap of the tube and a fake strawberry scent wafted into the air. However, if you've ever tried to make a simply putrid-smelling room smell better with a very artificial, overly sugary sweet-smelling scent, you'll know it actually makes it worse.

"Agh! My brain hurts!" Koga moaned.

"Put the cap back on!" Inu-Yasha growled.

Hakudoshi calmly applied the itch cream onto his sunburns. Ah, that was much better.

Sesshomaru had a feeling that if his pillow had to go through any more filtering, it was going to become stinkier than the air already was. _Oh well, I'll just take Inu-Yasha's, _he thought indifferently.

"OH YEAH!!"

They stared out from their door.

"That was the captain, right?" Inu-Yasha asked.

"I wonder…" Hakudoshi said in a way that they knew he wanted to go spying. And so, they all got up (as Sesshomaru didn't want to stay in the stinky room by himself) and crept towards the captain's room.

The door was closed, but they could hear all sorts of sounds coming from the room.

"Should we open it a little?" Inu-Yasha whispered.

Sesshomaru answered the question by opening the door a crack without any noise. Of course, that meant he got to look in first. His eyes widened from what he saw.

"What? What is it?" Inu-Yasha asked.

"He's playing a friggin video game!" Sesshomaru hissed.

"NO WAY!" Koga said a little too loudly.

The door was yanked open as the captain loomed above them. They stared fearfully back, not daring to move.

"So now you know," the captain said quietly, a bad sign. "DO YOU GUYS WANNA PLAY WITH ME?"

This caught them off guard.

"I'VE BEEN WANTING TO PLAY WITH SOMEONE FOR A WHILE, BUT NARAKU WON'T PLAY WITH ME AND HE SAYS NO ONE ELSE WOULD WANT TO PLAY EITHER!" he sobbed. "COME RIGHT IN!" Again, without their say-so, he dragged them inside and closed the door.

They instantly regretted investigating. The game was called _The Hawaii Adventure_. And it featured none other than the sunglasses guy.

"Er…Naraku's right. I don't think we want to play this," Koga said nervously.

"NONSENSE! IT'S FUN, ONCE YOU KNOW HOW TO PLAY!" the captain scoffed.

_Only the captain would think this would be fun,_ they all thought with a sweat drop.

"OKAY, THIS IS HOW IT GOES: YOU TRY TO GET TO HAWAII BY ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MOVIE! I HOPE YOU WERE ALL PAYING ATTENTION! THERE'S TEN LEVELS AND A HUNDRED QUESTIONS PER LEVEL! ALL MULTIPLE CHOICE: THE A BUTTON IS A, B BUTTON IS B, L IS C, R IS D! EACH TIME YOU ANSWER CORRECTLY, YOU GET A POINT! EXTRA POINTS IF YOU ANSWER IT CORRECTLY FIRST! YOU CAN ONLY ADVANCE BY GETTING ENOUGH POINTS! FIRST ONE TO FINISH WINS!"

"Wins what?"

"DON'T KNOW! I NEVER PLAYED AGAINST SOMEONE ELSE BEFORE!!"

"So, what do you get when you beat the game by yourself?" Inu-Yasha asked.

"DON'T KNOW THAT EITHER! I HAVEN'T BEATEN THE GAME YET!!"

This was disheartening news. "And…how long have you been playing this?"

"EVER SINCE I FIRST BOUGHT IT! AND THAT WAS TEN YEARS AGO!!"

Inu-Yasha nearly staggered from shock as Koga screamed, "WHAT!"

"Calm down, you fools," Sesshomaru said coolly. "It's not as if he's been playing this every day."

"TRUE," the captain nodded. "BUT I COULDN'T BEAT IT WHEN I _DID _PLAY IT EVERY DAY, SO NOW I JUST PLAY WHENEVER THERE'S NOTHING TO DO!"

Sesshomaru remained silent.

"OK! SO WHO WANTS TO GO FIRST?"

"One moment please!" Koga said quickly as he rounded everybody up in a huddle.

"_We've got to get out of here!" _he whispered. _"If the captain couldn't beat this game, there's no way _we _can!"_

"_So, who wants to entertain the captain so the rest of us can escape?" _Hakudoshi asked.

"_I nominate Inu-Yasha," _said Sesshomaru.

"_Well, then I nominate you!" _Inu-Yasha shot back.

"DONE YET?" yelled the captain. "WHY DON"T I PICK ONE OF YOU?"

"Pick HIM!" all of them yelled as Koga, Hakudoshi, and Sesshomaru pointed to Inu-Yasha and Inu-Yasha pointed to Sesshomaru.

"Why is it always _me_!" he cried indignantly.

"OKEY-DOKEY! COME HERE!" Of course, the captain pulled him there before he could protest.

"Well, have fun!" Koga said cheerfully as he ambled towards the door.

"If you're lucky, we might see you again at lunch," Hakudoshi said not very reassuringly.

"Actually, at this hour it should be linner," Sesshomaru corrected as he grasped the door knob and pulled.

And pulled again.

And pulled one more time.

Koga tried and pulled with all his might, but the door would not budge. Realization sank in. They were locked in.

"AW, DON'T LEAVE SO SOON! IT'LL BE YOUR TURN AFTER INU-YASHA'S!" the captain boomed almost maliciously. The captain's words echoed in their minds. _"FIRST ONE TO FINISH WINS! FIRST ONE TO FINISH WINS! FIRST ONE…"_

"MOVE OVER!!" Koga, Sesshomaru, and Hakudoshi yelled, pushing Inu-Yasha aside and fighting over the game controller.

"NO FIGHTING!!" the captain hollered as he plucked the game controller out of Koga's hands. "BESIDES, YOU ALL WANTED INU-YASHA TO GO FIRST, SO HE'S GOING FIRST!! BUT YOU CAN PLAY AGAINST HIM, KOG!" He put it back in Koga's hands. Sparks flew between him and Inu-Yasha.

"Watch out, cuz I'm getting out of here," said Koga.

"In your dreams; I watched the movie twice," Inu-Yasha retorted.

"No matter," Sesshomaru said calmly. "Inu-Yasha will lose easily enough."

"Doesn't matter who loses first, just that they hurry up and lose," Hakudoshi scowled.

"SO GLAD YOU GUYS WANT TO PLAY THIS GAME!!" the captain beamed.

_We don't, but if it's the only way to get out… _they thought.

**Level 1**

**Question #1: What is the name of the charismatic, awe-inspiring host of his own movie?**

**a) Bob**

**b) Bobby**

**c) Robert**

**d) Dylan**

**You have 10 seconds to answer**

"What! They didn't mention his name in the movie!" Inu-Yasha exclaimed.

"IT SAYS ON THE BACK OF THE VIDEO CASE! BUT I LOST THAT SOME TIME AGO!" the captain explained.

"Bob…or Bobby?" Koga thought fervently.

Sesshomaru and Hakudoshi had to refrain themselves from punching the two in hopes of beating some sense into their heads.

There was one second left. _It's obviously _Dylan_!! _they screamed in their minds.

"BOB!!" Koga screamed, pressing the A button.

"It's Robert!" Inu-Yasha yelled, pressing the L button.

_**Wrong! Wrong!**_

**Question #2: What was the first word that the charismatic, awe-inspiring host said?**

**Hello!**

**Hi!**

**Welcome!**

**Aloha!**

**You have 10 seconds to answer**

"Wait! What was the answer to that last question?" Inu-Yasha protested.

"I _know _this one!" Koga cried, pressing the A button again.

"Argh!" Inu-Yasha quickly pressed the R button.

Under Koga, it flashed _**Wrong! **_but under Inu-Yasha, it flashed _**Correct! **_

"What!" sputtered Koga before turning to Inu-Yasha. "What was the answer?!"

**Question #3: What was the second word that the charismatic, awe-inspiring host said?**

**a) Welcome**

**b) Every**

**c) Everybody**

**d) Everyone**

**You have 10 seconds to answer**

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" Koga hollered and punched the A button.

"HEY! DON'T BREAK THE CONTROLLER!" the captain hollered back.

"Eenie meenie minie mo…" chanted Inu-Yasha, trying to decided whether to press L or R. He pressed L.

_**Wrong! Wrong!**_

"Darn! It must've been the other one!" Inu-Yasha pulled his hair in frustration.

**Question #4**

At this point, Sesshomaru began to calculate how much time it would take for them to get to the next level. At least 15 minutes. That wasn't too bad. Then he calculated the time to complete the entire game. His spirits began to sink.

"_Sesshomaru, we have _got _to get out of here," _Hakudoshi whispered. _"And not by playing that ridiculous excuse of a video game."_

"_I know," _Sesshomaru whispered back, but he couldn't think how. The captain might _seem _engrossed with the game, but you could never tell with him. They needed a miracle…

_Knock knock_

"WHO'S THERE?" The captain didn't even take his eyes off the screen.

"Um…it's Rin and Kagura! Lunch—er, dinner—er, linner?—is ready!"

"_**YES!!**_" Koga and Inu-Yasha roared deafeningly as they raced towards the door. Unfortunately, they forgot that it was still locked and ran right into it.

"HO HO! HUNGRY, EH?" the captain chuckled as he unlocked the door. A beautiful, mouth-watering aroma filled the room.

"Thank you, oh, _thank you_." Koga nearly wept with gratitude.

"What did you guys _cook_?" Inu-Yasha asked incredulously.

"You'll see!" Rin replied with a knowing smile.

"And, like, why was this door locked?" Kagura asked.

"COME ON! TO THE KITCHEN!" roared the captain, ignoring her question.

"I'm just glad to be out of this room," Hakudoshi said.

As they walked towards the kitchen, Rin asked, "So…why _was_ the door locked?"

Everyone looked expectantly at the captain. He pretended not to hear her.

The spread on the kitchen table soon captured their full attention. Kagura gasped, Sesshomaru's eyes widened, Koga whooped, Inu-Yasha drooled, and Hakudoshi was trying not to. It was, lo and behold, tempura!! Beautiful, golden, refreshing-change-from-fish-and-bread tempura!

"Rin, you are, like, a genius!" Kagura squealed, hugging her.

"Please be seated before eating," Naraku ordered sternly as Koga and Inu-Yasha grabbed three pieces each. They quickly did so.

Throughout linner, they all complimented Rin, and though Naraku appeared somewhat annoyed that he wasn't receiving any of the compliments, he had to admit that it _was _Rin's idea, not his.

"Gosh, I love this one!" Koga remarked blissfully as he ate a random piece.

"Oh, I think that one was broccoli!" Rin said.

Suddenly, Koga did not look so happy, but he swallowed it nonetheless and said, "Heck, one vegetable can't hurt me. And it was _good_."

They all went to bed full and satisfied. Though the captain's snoring was as raucous as before, they were beginning to start getting used to it, and drowsiness from a full stomach helped.

"Can you believe it?" Inu-Yasha yawned. "We only had one meal today."

"I thought I was going to _die_," Koga admitted. "But the tempura was totally worth it."

"And my sunburn is gone," Hakudoshi added contentedly.

"Shut up already; the captain's snore is loud enough without you guys talking, too," Sesshomaru grumbled.

And they would do well to enjoy what they could of that day, as their journey will only go downhill from here.

**To be continued…**

**Author's Note: **Whoo, pretty long update. Part 1 of the Summer Survival Sage (lol) is almost finished; just one more chapter to go! **Warning: **I'm going to start condensing-**for real-**so the next chapter will probably be like Chapter 5 (or 6?). Till then!


	7. Chapter 7 SOS!

**Summer Survival **

"_And they would do well to enjoy what they could of that day, as their journey will only go downhill from here…"_

**S.O.S!!**

To say the very least, they did not start their day well.

_Thump!_

"OW!" Inu-Yasha had fallen off his bunk onto the floor.

"Shut up," Sesshomaru growled drowsily as he threw his pillow at his brother. Of course, that was the pillow that had absorbed the previous day's fumes and Inu-Yasha would've suffocated if he wasn't wide awake from falling six feet from his bunk.

"Why you…" Inu-Yasha was about to throw the pillow back at his brother when the captain burst into their room.

"WAAAKEEEEEEEYYY WAAAKEEEEEEEYYY BOYS!!" he bellowed.

"Five more minutes…" Koga mumbled.

"SORRY, BUT NO! WE GOT CLEAN UP DUTY TODAY!!"

Needless to say, he dragged them out of bed (minus Inu-Yasha, who was already out) and up on deck.

"I'm hungry…" Koga moaned before the stench hit him. It emanated from the trail left by the shark they heaved overboard the other day. Their mission became clear.

"TODAY WE GOTTA CLEAN UP THIS MESS!" the captain ordered as he handed them each a mop or a rag. "I WANT IT SQUEAKY CLEAN BY BREAKFAST!!"

"Aren't you going to help like last time?" Inu-Yasha asked.

"And where's Kagura?" Hakudoshi added.

"SHE'S TAKING A SHOWER!!"

"What! And let the rest of _us _to do the work?" Koga cried, flabbergasted. "If all it took was a shower, I'm going to get one too!"

"Actually, I don't think you'll get to. Kagura takes an _impossibly _long time in the shower," Hakudoshi said, sighing.

"And you would know this…how?" Sesshomaru raised an eyebrow.

"Our families went on a vacation together, and she took so long in the shower that her parents threatened to disable her credit card account if she didn't come out by the time they counted to five hundred."

"Yikes," said Inu-Yasha. "And I thought _Sesshomaru _took a long time."

"You only think that because you hardly take showers at all," Sesshomaru countered.

"Yeah, but I still take showers, and still not as long as you do!"

"At least _I _don't smell as bad as a rotting shark because of it."

"I do _not_!" Inu-Yasha swung his mop at Sesshomaru, who easily countered it with his. They began fighting each other with their mops as Hakudoshi noticed that the captain was gone. "Where's—"

"Hey, look! I think we're nearing the International Date Line or something!" Koga said excitedly. "Cuz it looks like it's night over there."

"Don't be ridiculous—" Hakudoshi paled. It wasn't night.

It was storm clouds. Very big, and very black, storm clouds.

Rin had never felt so overjoyed in quite a while. For once, Kagura didn't hate her anymore. Also, she had a good night's sleep and looked forward to making breakfast. And she had an idea for what to make.

Once she entered the kitchen, though, she found Naraku wasn't there. She decided that she would do the dishes first, of course, but if he didn't show up by the time she finished, she'd to surprise everyone by doing making breakfast herself. Her idea still included frying, and she accomplished it yesterday. So it should be pretty simple, shouldn't it?

_The same nightmare again. The flames licked and consumed everything, including his…_

Naraku blinked his eyes open. Strange, he still smelled smoke. Was he still dreaming? Then he got up with a start. _No! Don't tell me—_

"RIN!!" he screamed furiously as he stormed into the kitchen.

"Uh…how do you flip the pancakes?" Rin asked meekly before coughing. The air was filled with a burnt odor, and the 'pancake'—still stuck on the pan—was charred beyond recognition. Naraku began to calm down. No fire yet.

"Don't use the stove while I'm not around," he said coldly, and Rin flinched.

"I was just trying to—"

"Burn down the kitchen?"

For a moment, his question hung in the air, sarcastic and menacing. Then Rin shook her head. "No, make breakfast. You know I never _try _to burn down the kitchen."

Naraku turned away gruffly and was about to turn the stove off when the ship shifted abruptly. Naraku and Rin fell as the pan flew off the stove and hit the sink, just missing their heads and causing the sink to erupt in fountains of water. At the same time, the fire leapt from the stove onto the cupboard above it and spread across the kitchen.

"We've got to get out of here!" Naraku shouted as he pulled Rin along by her cuff. The ship lurched again, and they tumbled backwards. The floor suddenly became as stable as a swinging seesaw.

"What's happening?" Rin cried frantically, clutching Naraku's arms in an iron grip.

"OW! Get off my arm!" Naraku snarled. Rin, however, was too petrified to comply.

It actually became worse when the fire met water, as steam came pouring out and mixing with the smoke, making the heat and thickness of the air unbearable. Not only that, the fire had them surrounded. Just when Rin thought she was going to run out of breath, the ceiling exploded upwards. The steam and smoke had weakened it, and as the combination grew in strength, it managed to push the ceiling away in order to escape. Rin and Naraku gasped for breath; then, they suddenly became drenched as rain poured down. It put out the fire, but there was so much rain that Naraku realized that if they didn't escape soon, they would drown. "Come on!" he growled, pulling Rin along once more by the cuff. Rin was too tired to complain or struggle, though it is _very _uncomfortable to be dragged by your neck through knee high water as the floor constantly shifted with the violence of a bucking horse. Just then, she heard a scream coming from the direction of the sleeping quarters. Oh yeah…Kagura had wanted to take a shower!

"Hold on! Kagura's still here!" she managed to croak. Naraku cursed.

"Can you make it on deck?" he asked brusquely.

"I think so," Rin said nervously, but if the water _did _get too high, she could swim, and that would be easier than wading, too.

"Hurry," was all he said before he went to get Kagura.

Kagura had _no _idea what was happening. She was taking a long, invigorating shower when there was a jolt and she slipped. As she tried to get up, she noticed the shower gradually become cold. _What?! _she thought and, staring angrily at the shower, quickly turned it off. However, the ground was shaking vigorously like an earthquake, and water was still dripping on her. _Like, what is going on? _she thought, still more irritated than puzzled as she got out of the shower…and saw that her towel, luckily on top of her clothes, was soaked as the ceiling continued dripping and the floor continued lurching. Just then, she knew that something was wrong. As quickly as she could, she put her clothes on, though they only became wet. _This is so disgusting! _she thought, fuming as she tried to unlock the bathroom door, though this was difficult as the floor kept shifting beneath her feet, worse than the usual. At a particularly sharp undulation she lost her footing. With a high-pitched scream, she fell with a splash to the floor, though her fall was softened by the water. Wait…water? It was halfway up to her knees! Kagura panicked and began pounding the door, screaming, "Someone! Anyone! HELP! HELP! HEEEEEEEELP—"

"Why is this door locked, Kagura?" she heard Naraku ask as he attempted to open it.

"I was taking a shower," she sniffed. "But nevermind that; GET ME OUT!!"

"Argh! Stand back!" He began ramming into the door, though the water inside was making it harder to push inwards. "Kagura, you ram the door!"

"But I'll, like, hurt my shoulder!" she wailed.

Naraku gritted his teeth. No time to blow his top. "Do you want to get out or not?"

"Yes!" Kagura sobbed.

"Then hurry up and do it!"

Very pathetically, she pushed against the door, though it was more like leaning on it. Naraku, in turn, began pulling, though the credit must be given to the rising water inside, which built up enough pressure that the door burst open with a _**BOOM! **_As the water rushed out, Naraku didn't wait for Kagura to catch her breath as he carried her in his arms and headed back for the stairs.

On deck, Inu-Yasha and Sesshomaru's fighting was abruptly stopped when the deck seemed to swing around and swept them off their feet. It was then they noticed the deep black and angry storm clouds chasing them and realized the immediate danger of shipwrecking on hand. As the rain practically hammered down onto the deck, Koga was desperately trying to keep the water level down by dumping water out by the bucketful as Inu-Yasha tried to so with his hands, moaning, "Why did the captain only have _one _bucket for us to work with?!"

_Where _is_ the captain, anyway?_ Sesshomaru thought, looking around when a new thought hit him. _And where is Hakudoshi?_

Hakudoshi raced towards the steering room and saw that his hunch was right. He had thought that the captain, too, saw the clouds and would try to outrun them. As if on cue, the ship swerved as the captain turned the steering wheel. _But will it be enough? Tthose clouds sure looked big and ugly, _Hakudoshi thought. So intent was the captain on steering that he didn't notice Hakudoshi sneak into the room and up behind him.  
"HO! WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE, HAKUDOSH?" the captain asked, though Hakudoshi thought his voice sounded strained. Just then, a paper poking out of a drawer caught his eye. He reached out to pull it out…

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" roared the captain. Hakudoshi, caught by surprise, withdrew his hand, but was made even more curious by the command. However, at that moment, the storm had caught up to them and was beating the _Ocean Gull _around. They realized the hopelessness of their situation.

"ABANDON SHIP! I REPEAT! ABANDON SHIP!!" the captain cried out with the force of a thousand trumpets blaring at the same time. He dragged Hakudoshi out as a lightning bolt hit the cabin and it burst into flames, despite the torrential rain.

_Darn, now I'll _never _know what that paper was, _Hakudoshi though disappointedly.

At this point, everyone was gathered up near the door to below deck.

"REPORT, NARAKU!"

"Everyone is here; water is filling up below deck."

"INU-YASHA?"

"What?"

"GOOD! SESSHOMARU?"

"Here."

"KOGA?"

"Hey, you said my real name!" Koga exclaimed in a moment of surprise.

"RIN?"

"Here!"

"KAGURA?"

Kagura moaned.

"AND I GOT HAKUDOSHI RIGHT HERE! QUICKLY, TO THE BOATS!!"

At that moment, a lightning bolt hit the mast, causing it to ignite. It cracked and slowly but surely began falling down where they were all standing. With a big _OOMF! _it cleanly split them into two groups: Naraku, Rin, and Kagura on one side, and the captain, Hakudoshi, Sesshomaru, Inu-Yasha, and Koga on the other. There was almost silence as they realized this.

"Why did I get stuck with _you_?" Sesshomaru groaned, referring to Inu-Yasha.

"DON'T STAND AROUND LOOKING LIKE A FOOL, NARAKU!!" the captain somehow shouted above the noise of the storm. "GET THEM TO THE BOATS! HURRY!"

"But what about—"

"FORGET ABOUT US!! THE KIDS WITH YOU ARE YOUR PRIORITY!!"

At first, Naraku hesitated, but then he said, "Come on," and they hurried to escape on the boats.

"So…what happens to us?" Inu-Yasha asked, trying not to panic.

"We gotta ride this out, boys," the captain replied. His normal voice, at this moment at least, failed to surprise them. Then, with astounding strength, he pulled out seven planks of wood from the floor and handed one to each person, keeping three for himself. "Hold onto your plank, cuz it can mean the difference of life or death. Now, when I say go, we—"

A simply _enormous _lightning bolt crashed down, cutting off his directions. They could just hear the captain shout, "GO!" above the thunder, and though they weren't exactly sure what he wanted them to do, the blaze the lightning created gave them the hint. There was only one thought: escape. And so, with the captain in front of them, they all leapt off board and disappeared into the frothing black ocean. Thunder boomed.

Naraku just got Rin and Kagura into the boat when he saw the lightning bolt hit the ship and turn the deck to flames. _This is too much like my nightmare,_ he thought grimly as he got into the boat and pushed them into the ocean below. Unfortunately, they had no oars, so they were left to drift away from the flaming ship. Thunder boomed.

**To be continued…**

**Author's Note: **Okay, this is the last chapter I'm posting this summer, as 1) it is the last chapter of Part 1 and 2) this summer is drawing to an end and I will not be able to conclude this series by the time school starts. And because it's called _**Summer**__ Survival, _I'm not going to post any chapters until next summer (and it'll give me time to brainstorm more ideas). So, thank you for reading this far and hope you've enjoyed it! Anticipate the next part, next summer!


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